Titania and The Hunter

by Master Attlon

Born as a human. Treated as a demon. Gathered as a slave. Viewed as a leader. Traveled as a Mage. Grew as a Legend. The journey and life of The Hunter, Naruto Uzumaki

21. S-Class Duel! Demon vs Hunter

Titania and The Hunter

Chapter 21: S-Class Duel! Demon vs Hunter

I have one goal this month...

Break 1000 reviews.

And I need all your help. I hope I make this month good.

So let's take the first step.

A ton of great Animes are coming out this month. And 1 in particular that I've been waiting for since March last year.

########Hunter########

December X781

Makarov whistled as he waved his fan to cool himself off. It was December, yet he felt way too hot sitting out here in the sun.

Granted, he was on top of a mountainous structure surrounded by similar plateaus in the middle of a desert canyon but still it was winter.

He was currently relaxing on top of the rock structure because it was that time of year again. The time of year where he picks some of the most ambitious of his kids out of the pack and bring them out here to test their mettle.

The S-Class Promotion Test.

This had been a pretty hectic year. The Damnation crisis had finally started to teeter off and life was returning to normal. Mahiro came back every few months to check up on everyone and visit Koyuki for a few days. She was doing her job very well and was even starting to make a name for herself around the Council.

And in the aftermath of the Fairy Tail popularity boom, they had even procured a few choice talents.

There was Loke. He said he was an acquaintance of Bob's and he needed a place he could start over. The Fairy Master felt like he didn't have the right to pry into his past. A handsome young man who loved the ladies almost as much as he did magic. Makarov could have sworn that in the whole time he had known that boy he hadn't seen him without a pretty young girl under each arm.

Then there was Max Alors. A fine young gentleman who utilized Sandstorm magic. He had a very strong and outgoing personality that was infectious to the people that asked for him on requests. And he made them look good in the interviews he had with Sorcerer's Weekly.

And Warren Rocko. A determined young man that had an extremely useful Telepathy magic that could communicate with anyone he knew within a long range. Big missions with large teams always had him to help convey their plans over a large field. Although it did nothing in stopping the destruction and damages they caused.

Then, there were two shooters they had taken into their ranks. One was a young man from the far west, Alzack Connell, who had come to Fiore to look for work. When the boy decided to show his skills, he pulled out two revolvers and showed off a nearly unparalleled use of Gun Magic. Needless to say, the young man could probably shoot an apple off someone's head from a hundred meters away.

And they got another gun-touting Mage to join their ranks as well. A strange girl who used to commit petty crimes was brought to the guild by Erza. She called herself Moulin Rouge but when Erza asked what her real name was, she eagerly complied that it was Bisca Mulan. She showed some very impressive skills with a gun and she definitely had a fast hand. But she was having a hard time opening up to anyone other than Erza. Well...except for maybe Alzack.

But the biggest haul they had gotten over the last few months was a very talented group of three. A stern young gentleman named Freed Justine. Another strange man called Bickslow. And a vibrant young lady calling herself Evergreen. But they only seemed to be interested in one thing...

Laxus.

They had come to Fairy Tail after they had heard stories about what the S-Class mages had done in the war against Damnation. And when they arrived, they had instantly become obsessed with the Lightning Mage and his strong, aloof attitude.

Laxus originally didn't care for any of them and when they introduced themselves to him, he specifically told them to, 'Fuck off'. But as they started to follow him out on missions and defeating dark mages without a care in the world, the S-Class Fairy decided to take them up as his lackeys. He even gave them a name.

Raijinshū.

Thunder God Tribe. Now if that didn't speak loads of Laxus' personality he didn't know what could.

But now they were taking the next step into a new year. They had a few talented kids to pick from this year and this was gonna be their chance to move up the ladder.

Makarov had taken a boat with the examinees and traveled down south into the mountain lands. He had basically dashed all the way here in the middle of a field of thin but tall rock towers. And he had left the kids to run out of the ship and find their clues in the port town.

This was the first part of their exam; resourceful thinking and information gathering.

Makarov had slipped in a bunch of subtle little clues into his speech to the participants. And when they had docked, the kids were supposed to ask around town and find their way to the next test location.

He had left hints in stores, buildings, and with merchants. The goal was to see how much information they could gather in four hours to find one of three locations that would initiate the next phase of the exam. This was supposed to test their individual capabilities to gather information from around town, connect those pieces together, and find their target like they would have to do in requests.

So far, all three of them had passed.

They had found the location they were supposed to travel to and that started the next part of the exam. A much, much harder exam.

Part two; practical thinking and strategy.

At each of the three destinations was a map that lead them to his current spot. If they could make it to this location within the hour, they would have passed. The reason this part of the exam was so hard...

Each map was being carried by one of the current S-Class mages.

That's why Makarov didn't expect many arrivals this time. Not because he didn't believe in the talent of the examinees...

But because all of the current S-Class had no concept of holding back.

Ugh. This-this was why he was going broke. And why he was getting that stress rash on his butt.

########Hunter########

Cana gasped in pain and exhaustion as she fell to her knees and all of her Magic Cards fell out around her. Her muscles felt numb and there was sweat dripping down her face. She couldn't find the strength to stand up and her vision was going blurry.

But she couldn't give up yet!

Cana forced herself up to her feet, pulling out one last card and slamming it on the ground. She gave a mighty roar, "Prayer's Fountain!"

Several streams of water shot out of the Magic Card and aimed towards her opponent. She had to give everything she could. Now or never! Just catching him off guard long enough to grab the map was enough!

But Laxus just stomped his foot on the ground and sent several lightning bolts all around the area. They were brought down on the rocky area, completely obliterating the water with sheer power and striking down Cana for good measure.

The sound of thunder tapered off and the bright light of the Lightning strike faded away. Laxus looked down at the defeated girl lying a few yards away, random static bolts coming off her body as she could no longer summon the strength to stand.

Laxus turned away and pulled his headphones off. He walked away and looked forward, "Not this year kid."

Cana tried to pull herself up but felt the sting of a thousand needles run through her body after that attack. She always knew Laxus was strong but this was ridiculous! He barely even moved and he brought a thunderstorm down on her.

She wasn't strong enough.

Cana could only curse her own weakness as she gritted her teeth.

It was so close. The goal she had been aiming towards for so many years was almost in reach. And once again it was pulled out from under her. It wasn't fair.

########Hunter########

The whole rocky area was covered in a cloud of dust. The power of the two opposing forces had destroyed the landscape around them, reducing it to rubble. Two shadows stood up out of the dust, opposite each other.

Erza's Black Wing Armor glowed before it Requip into her base armor. She dusted off her skirt and wiped off the smudges on her face. She gave a small smile, "Okay, I gotta say, that was impressive." She looked back at her opponent, "Where did you learn that?"

Another figure stood up as her body was covered in a bright light.

When it faded, Mira was standing their with a big, shit-eating grin and waving the map she had stolen from the armor clad red-head. She placed it against her cheek and grinned, "I'm not telling~."

"You know, you already got the map. You're moving on to the next part of the exam." Erza furrowed her eyes and crossed her arms while Mira did a quick celebratory dance, "You don't have to act so smug."

"Oh this? This ain't smug. I can show you smug if you want but you won't be able to handle it." Mira said with a giddy tone at being able to outdo her rival and take the prize from her. She continued her victory, "I beat Erza, beat Erza, beat Erza, beat-"

"It's because of Gildarts, isn't it?"

Mira froze in spot as Erza gave her own little smug smile. Bingo.

Mira turned around mechanically and sweated a little, "W-what?"

Erza turned around and grinned. She gave a comical look to the side, "I know you were going on requests and training with Gildarts these last few months. It was painfully obvious."

"H-how did you find out?!"

"Lisanna told me."

"Ah! Betrayed by my own blood!" Mira exclaimed as she fell on her knees in horror. She jumped back up and grabbed Erza's shoulders while glaring into her eyes, "You can't tell anyone about that! Okay?! Not a soul!"

"I'm pretty sure everyone else already has an idea Mirajane." Erza stated as she calmly pried the white-haired girl's hands off her shoulders. She wiped her shoulder, "Besides, there's no reason for you to be embarrassed about getting a little help."

"I don't want it to spread around because he barely helped me in the first place!" Mira let out a tired sigh and rubbed her face, "All the requests we took were just me fighting off monsters and crooks while he sat on his ass and slept around. And when we got paid he took 70% of the reward!"

"O-oh wow."

"Yeah, but that's not all!" Mira growled in anger, "When the lazy bastard did finally start to help me, all he did was punch in my direction and reduce everything in the way to dust!" Mira looked over at Erza desperately, "What kind of training is that?! And on a better note, what kind of mental disease does Natsu suffer from to keep wanting to challenge that crazy drunk?!"

Erza didn't know what to say to that. When she trained with Mahiro, the Senju woman's strength was overwhelming but she knew when to hold back and help her with her fighting. If you took away the restraint, finesse and added pure unrivaled destructive ability...

Shit. Gildarts really wasn't someone you could ask for help in getting stronger.

Mira let out a long sigh and shook her head, "I'm just glad I got your location instead of Laxus or Gildarts."

Erza felt a vein throb in her head before she grabbed Mira's shirt and put her face right into the Strauss girl's face. She growled, "Are you insinuating I'm weaker than Laxus and Gildarts?"

"No." Mirajane growled back just a furiously as she didn't back down, "I'm just always eager to kick your ass. Besides, Laxus is a psycho with lighting coming out of his ass and Gildarts is...well Gildarts."

Erza and Mira walked away from each other. Erza fixed her scuffed up hair, "I really didn't mind who I got paired with. I was just told to make it as hard as possible for anyone to get the map."

"Oh really? What if Naruto had shown up?" Mira asked lightly before she started hugging herself and making a kissing motion. She teased the scarlet-haired Mage, "I bet if he'd come you would have-"

"Punched him through the wall if he thought he could get off easily." Erza finished with no change in tone. She just crossed her arms, "This is the S-Class Exam. We all have to take it as seriously as possible."

Mira was just shocked by her easy and relaxed tone. She was taken back by it for a moment, "Woah. That's cold. You should be nicer to the guy you're raising a kid with."

"Why would it matter that we are taking care of Koyuki?" Since Mahiro left for her job, Erza and Naruto always looked over Koyuki. They alternated when one of them took care of the growing toddler so the other could go out and do requests. But sometimes Koyuki stayed over with the other people in Fairy Tail. She had spent some nights with the Strauss siblings. And she was always happy when she got to play with everyone else in Fairy Hills. But she just loved being with Naruto and Erza the most.

Mira gave the girl a flat look, "Yeah, but you two are best friends. You're joined at the hip. And not in the fun way." Mira whispered under her breath before speaking out again, "You're the guys that tell each other everything."

"That's not always for the best."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it's never good when you only rely on one person for everything." Erza stated while looking at Mira and shook her head. They stayed silent for a moment as Mira looked down at her map.

"Well, you know what this means, right?" Mira said as she waved the map in front of her, "It means Naruto either got stuck with Laxus or..."

Both girls went a little pale before they hung their heads and shook them. They sent a little prayer for their fallen comrade in the battle with a moron.

########Hunter########

An echo rang out through the empty, rocky field. The smoke and dust started to spread apart to reveal a long furrow along the ground. Gildarts popped out of the dust and started to cough loudly as he tried to catch his breath. He felt over his body for the item he was supposed to protect but couldn't find it. He chuckled a little and looked towards the end of the furrow...

"O-okay, I'll admit kid, that was impressive." Gildarts laughed and looked back at the other man, "Did you really have to resort to that though?"

Naruto jumped out of the dust, a little banged with a bloody lip to boot. He spit out some blood and glared and the orange-haired Ace, "Shut up you bastard! Of course I had to resort to taking out all the stops! The moment I walk in here and you just stomp the ground and turn it to rubble."

Gildarts lazily scratched his head, "What? I can't help it. I can't stand holding back."

"See! That's why Jiji always chews you out! You're the reason all the cities and towns never pay you for your jobs!"

"Pfft, they just can't handle me. Unlike their woman." He said with a husky tone and a dirty smile. He leaned his head out of the way of Naruto's punch before grabbing his arm and pulling him forward. He looked at the downed boy and laughed, "Geez kid, you should be happier. You're passing."

Naruto just narrowed his eyes before lifting up the map he had stolen from the overwhelming S-Class Mage. He had only gotten it by pulling out a technique he hadn't shown anybody else but he had still earned a chance to go to the next round. He couldn't help but smile at that.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." He smiled and waved it at Gildarts, "Hey, I might just be the only one to make it to the next stage. I'll have to be promoted to S-Class then."

"Nah, I wouldn't be so sure about that kid." Gildarts argued while shaking his head. He looked at Naruto, "Cana can be a pretty stubborn girl when she wants to. And Mira said she wasn't going to give in to anything this year. She's been preparing herself for everything possible."

"So have I, dammit!" Naruto exclaimed before he smirked and pounded his fist into his other hand. He turned away from Gildarts, "I've been doing a bunch of missions and training non-stop for this chance. I'm not letting it pass me by!"

The Ace of Fairy Tail chuckled as he watched Naruto hype himself up. It was true, Gildarts had noticed that the blond Mage had grown much more serious and stronger over the last few months. Although that could be said about everyone in the guild.

They had all started to take their jobs more seriously. After what had happened to Hashirama.

Gildarts laughed, "Well, whoever it is that gets the promotion, they're gonna be taking care of the guild while I'm gone."

Naruto's ears perked up at that comment and he looked over to the older Mage. He inclined his head, "Gone? Where are you going?"

"I'll tell you, but don't tell anyone else just yet, got it? Only the Old Man knows so far." Naruto nodded his head as Gildarts nodded in return. He looked at the whiskered youngster, "After the Exam, I'm going to take a 100 Year Job. I'm gonna be gone from the guild for awhile."

"WHAT?! 100 YEARS! LI-LIKE IT'LL TAKE A HUNDRED YEARS TO DO?! THAT'S CRAZY! THAT'S STUPID! CAN YOU EVEN LIVE FOR ANOTHER 100 YEARS?! YOU'RE PRETTY OLD AS IS!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs at the unbelievable turn of events. He ran up to Gildarts, "WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU TAKE A JOB LIKE THAT?! THAT'S JUST-"

*Thwack*

Naruto nursed his bruised nose after Gildarts nonchalantly punched him to shut him up. Gildarts whined, "Geez kid, shut the fuck up. You're louder than Natsu." He dug his finger into his ear before looking at the young blond, "They're called '100 Year Jobs' because they've been open for 100 years and no one has finished them. And that just makes me want to take one of them myself."

"Well what about everyone else? They're gonna freak when they hear this! Especially Natsu!" Naruto didn't know what else he could say and let out a little laugh before looking at the older man, "I-I mean, what if you never come back?"

Gildarts smiled and walked up to Naruto before patting his shoulder. He smiled, "Naruto, this is a chance to help a lot of people. I can't turn away from something like that. Mahiro wouldn't. Hashirama wouldn't. The Old Man would definitely charge forward into it if he could. So I've got to do whatever I can."

Naruto wanted to argue but he couldn't find anything to say. Gildarts was strong. Stronger than anyone else he knew. This was probably the only calibre of job he could take anymore that provided him a challenge. And if he could control himself, maybe he really could finish the job.

"I'll be back. I promise." Gildarts smiled and pointed his finger up at the sky. In the same manner every member of Fairy Tail had grown accustomed to when they made a promise to each other.

Naruto didn't know what else to say. So he just smiled and copied the man's gesture with his own.

########Hunter########

Makarov drank from his flask as he waited for anyone to show up. But it was just five minutes until the deadline and nobody had shown up yet. Maybe no one was going to show up this year?

"Oh well." The old Fairy master mused as he leaned back comfortably on a rock and enjoyed the peace and quiet, "At least I got a nice vacation spot to come to from now on."

Just as he was about to take another swig-

"HEY!"

Makarov was surprised from the loud yell and dropped his drink from his hand. He sighed in anguish before he looked over to see a certain white-haired, gothic dressed beauty with a huge grin on her face. She ran up to the little master and spiked the map on the ground, "Woohoo! I made it! And solo too! I'm awesome!"

Makarov lifted up his flask and shook it to hear almost nothing left of his drink. He sighed and looked in the direction Mirajane had come jumping in from. His eyes widened in surprise, "You got the Erza route? Wow. And here I was half expecting you two to argue and fight the whole time and ignore the time limit."

"Hey, I can pick a fight with that prissy armor bitch whenever I want. I only got one chance to be S-Class." Mira smiled and rubbed her hands together, "What now? Do I sign a contract or do you give me a letter or something?"

"Hehe, w-woah there kid. There's still a few minutes left. Someone else might show up. Give it a sec."

"Pfft, no chance, the only other routes were Laxus' and Gildarts'. No one was getting past either of those two anytime-"

"Yeah! I made it!" Naruto yelled out as he jumped down from one of the large rock formations and spiked his map in the ground. He celebrated, "I did it! S-Class, yeah! Woo! Woo! Woo-Fuck! What the hell are you doing here Mira?!"

Mira shook her gob-smacked expression away and pointed at the blond, "Me? What about you Blondie?!"

Makarov looked in the direction Naruto came from. He whiskered in surprise, "Naruto, did ya come from the Gildarts route?" The whiskered man smiled smugly and nodded his head, "How'd you do that?"

"What'd you mean?! It wasn't that hard!" Naruto boasted as he had a confident smile on his face, "All you have to do is keep out of his reach, don't let him hit you, don't let him...touch the ground or anything around you and..."

He saw the looks the others with giving him as they were not at all convinced of his story. He stood back up, "I...took the map when he wasn't looking."

"Ugh, whatever. You just had to ruin it, didn't you Blondie?"

"Ruin-what did I do?!"

"You showed up! I was this close to getting the S-Class and you had to come and show up!"

"Hey! I got here fair and square! I earned this just as much as you did, Goth Girl!"

Mira and Naruto were face-to-face and growling at each other like wild animals as they tried to push the other one back. They would have continued their argument but they were shocked out of their behavior when Makarov used his Titan hands and clapped. The two teens covered their ears after the loud echo and looked back at the short man.

Mira shook the ringing out of her head. She glared at the little man, "Whatever! Master! What's the next part of the exam?"

"Yeah Jiji! What do we do next?"

"Hmmm..." Makarov closed his eyes and concentrated long and hard on what to do now. "To be honest..."

"I didn't think up of a third part. I wasn't sure how many of you were gonna make it to this part, actually."

Naruto and Mira stared at the short man flatly before they looked between each other. Then back to the short Wizard Saint, "Do you ever think things through ahead of time?"

"Not really. I'm supposed to make new sections of the exam every year and I can't always remember what I did before and it all becomes a pain in the ass after awhile." Makarov smiled and jumped up on a big rock to look down at them, "Give me a minute! I'll decide on something soon!"

Mira and Naruto just looked at the spot their old master had vanished from and stayed silent. Naruto looked over to the Take-Over Mage, "Well this sucks."

"Yep."

They heard multiple footsteps coming their way and looked behind them. From each of the different paths, one of the three S-Class mages walked out. Erza, Gildarts, and Laxus carrying someone over his shoulder. They all looked at the unhappy expressions on Naruto and Mira's faces before they all looked between each other.

Gildarts sighed, "Let me guess. The Old Man didn't think of a last portion to the test, right?"

Naruto and Mira nodded their heads.

Erza just shook her head, "He did this last year too. I don't think Master ever thinks through his decisions."

"Damn Jiji. He needs to get his shit together." Laxus dropped the girl he had over his shoulder and ignored the painful groan she gave in response.

Mira and Naruto walked over to Cana as she readjusted herself against a boulder. Mira crouched down by her side, "You all right?"

"Yeah, sure...just my whole body feels like its got needles pricking me." Cana painfully chuckled before she had a sad look on her face from her failure. The other two participants sat on either side of her as they waited for the results.

"It'll be okay." Naruto tried to cheer the brunette up with a smile on his face, "You just pulled the short straw with Mister Electro-balls."

"Sure, that must be it." Cana responded sarcastically with a dry laugh. Her laugh slowly wavered off and she had a disappointed look on her face. She looked down at her feet, "Guess I'll just have to try again some other year."

Mira nudged her shoulder and smiled, "You'll make it. And you'll be great."

Cana nodded in return. They all stayed silent for a moment until everyone heard tiny footsteps on the rocks again. Makarov appeared again from his little thinking spot and looked down at all the assembled members of his guild. He coughed into his hand, "Okay, I've decided."

"Some of the most important traits any S-Class Mage needs are tenacity and the strength to always fight on. You've all proven over time that you have the skills to make S-Class, but now I have to judge if either of you are ready for the demanding strain that comes with that title. So, for the third and last section of this year's S-Class Exam..."

He smiled and threw his hand into the air, "We're havin' a brawl!"

########Hunter########

Cana had her arms wrapped around her knees and looked out from her spot on the large rock structure. The S-Class mages and Makarov were all standing besides her, looking at the two mages that stood opposite each other.

The large Ace came to stand by her side and kneeled down besides her. He took out a flask and started to chug it down. He looked at the young girl, "You okay?"

Cana looked up at the older man and nodded her head. She looked forward again, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll just have to try harder next time."

"Well said kiddo." Gildarts handed her his flask and let her take a whiff of it. She was a little taken aback from the powerful scent of whiskey before she steeled herself and started drinking.

Gildarts smiled before Cana held the flask back out for him to take. He held it up to take another sip but was shocked to see there was barely any of his drink left. He looked down at the brunette in shock as she wiped her mouth, "It's pretty good."

Gildarts chuckled. The girl could drink.

Naruto and Mira stood off from each other in silence as they waited for the signal for battle. The atmosphere between the two of them was tense and they were using this chance to sum up the possible battle.

Mira didn't let it show but she felt worried about this fight. She could make this match work if she could spare her magic but a straight up fight with Naruto was a problem. She knew just how accustomed he was to fighting. Hell, he was one of the best fighters in Fairy Tail. He didn't pick fights with Gildarts or Laxus but he smacked Natsu around before the Dragon-Slayer could even make contact. If she wanted to win this fight, she was going to have to spare her magic for round 2.

But she noticed that when they had started walking out here, Naruto had a hesitant look on his face. Like he was considering the idea of fighting Mira and...rethinking it.

She decided to try and taunt him before the fight, "What's wrong Blondie? Looks like you're having second thoughts!"

Naruto was brought out of his stupor when he heard the Strauss girl call out to him. He smiled, "No Mira! My mind was just wandering!"

"Yeah! Well make sure you don't use that excuse when I'm claiming the title, got it?!" She replied rather haughtily as she started bouncing on her feet.

Makarov walked up to the top of his rock and grabbed the attention of the two participants. He looked between them, "I want a good fight between you two! No dirty shots! Dirty tricks however are allowed and highly encouraged! We're all grown ups here so if one of you loses, live with it! And..." He looked between them before giving them a pleading look, "Please-Please control yourselves you two! We might be alone out here but there are gonna be a few questions if an entire formation like this becomes a wasteland."

All of them scoffed. Like that was gonna be enough of a warning to stop them when they were this eager. Makarov's brow twitched in irritation at his guild's attitude before he sighed and raised his hand. The entire area went silent as Naruto and Mira started to tense up. His eyes looked between them, "Ready..."

"Set..."

"FIGHT!"

Mira took that moment to gather a large amount of water into her hands. It wasn't her primary magic, but it could prove useful at the moment. Their wasn't much power behind it so Naruto easily swiped the blast of water before it could hit him. But it did succeed in cutting off his line of sight long enough for Mira to disappear from his vision.

Naruto looked around to see if he could spot the white-haired Mage but found nothing. Until he felt the instinctive urge to jump back and did so on reflex.

The rock structure exploded from below as Mira popped out of the stone in her Satan Soul form. Naruto gathered his Wind chakra into his fist and jumped off the exploding rock and away from the Take-Over Mage. He spun through the air before landing on the ground and throwing a Storm Fist at the girl before she could act.

But Mira used her wings to fly around the fast flying strike and weave through the multiple spires around them. She took a wide turn and flew straight at Naruto's side in an attempt to catch him off guard. But just as Mira's fist made solid contact, she clicked her tongue just to see Naruto had pushed his sword and it's sheathe in the way of her fist.

They pushed off each other and skidded against the ground before dashing towards each other. They started exchanging blows over the entire ground, making loud shock waves that echoed along the canyon. Mira's strikes were heavy, vicious and relentless but Naruto pushed back with equal vigor.

They were not going to underestimate each other.

Naruto may act silly at the guild but Mira knew he became far more serious in missions after the Damnation incident. Her and some of the other members believed that he might have been tortured by the independent army and that was why he had to be healed by Porlyusica for a few weeks. But Mira knew for certain that Naruto was not someone she could take lightly. He was strong, determined, fast, and always had something surprising to pull out of his sleeve.

Naruto always knew Mira was a tough girl. She could push Erza off the edge of her calm demeanor and still keep a smirk on her face. She always came back from her requests laughing like a demon; ignoring the scolding she got from Jiji about the massive damages she did to towns around it. And these punches she was throwing out in her Satan Soul felt like bricks against his arms. But he wasn't about to give up just yet.

Naruto pulled his arms in closer so he had more leverage and pushed Mira's punches away before they even came close. The Take-Over Mage clicked her tongue and dove into the spin of her punch to try and catch a hook-kick into the blond's cheek. But Naruto leaned back, dodging her foot by only a few inches, and used the change in balance to flip backwards and away from the other Fairy Mage.

Naruto gathered Wind into his feet and, before landing on the ground, kicked out several razor sharp blades of air at the demon girl. Mira panicked and desperately dodged the razor wind that cut through the ground underneath it. If one of them hit her, should would probably be feeling it all week.

Naruto used Requip and pulled out the large, curved cleaver from out of his arsenal. He gripped the dragon blade in both hands and brought it down on the ground, "Rumbling Earth!"

The rock structures around them broke apart and the separated pieces floated in the air for a moment. Mira looked up at them in surprise before they all started falling towards her at extraordinary speeds.

Mira didn't have any time to think and clasped her hands together before raising them up high.

"Satanic Blast!"

The Darkness magic impacted against the falling rocks and the entire lower levels of the rock formation were shrouded in dust. Everyone on the top of the highest rock looked down in amazement at the two mages' abilities.

Cana couldn't find a way to voice her shock. She stuttered, "H-Holy crap."

"Well, looks like they didn't take your warning to heart Old Man." Gildarts dryly noted with a smile on his face, "Not that we expected much."

"Ugh." Makarov groaned and shook his head. His eyes fell in despair, "Dammit. Is it too much to ask for a little control? Geez."

Laxus opened one of his eyes to look at the cloud of dust settling underneath them. He scoffed before closing his eyes and lying on the ground in an attempt to rest. This fight hadn't peaked his interests yet so he wasn't going to waste his time watching it.

Erza chuckled before stepping closer to the edge to look down at the cloud. She smiled, "Well Master, you might want to prepare for the worst. I'm certain they've just been warming up at this point.

########Hunter########

Two figures jumped up out of the cloud and landed on different platforms. Mira and Naruto glared each other down and measured up their opponent's state so far. After a moment, they both smiled at each other at the fun they were having. This was proving a challenge to handle each other in battle like this.

And they had only just started.

Eagerly, Naruto swung the Earth dragon blade out and it glowed brightly as it was switched back into his Requip space. In its place, the Wind dragon sword appeared and he held it over his head. With a mighty roar, he brought it down on the rocky platform and sent a gale-force wind in every driection.

"Grand Gale!"

Mira had to cover her eyes from the powerful wind and was temporarily stunned. She struggled to open her eyes and was shocked to see Naruto coming down on her from high above with the Wind dragon sword in hand. Mira jumped back out of the sword's path but was pushed back again by an equally powerful gust of wind.

But this time, after landing, Naruto spun in place and gathered the surrounding torrents of wind around him. He threw out his hands and the wind shot out at the Take-Over with devastating power. Mira screamed as she was blown away and out of sight by the powerful wind.

The wind settled down and Naruto looked around in an attempt to find out where Mirajane went. She flew with the force of the wind so it wouldn't leave much damage and used the roaring gust to hide herself somewhere around the canyon.

Then the rock he was standing on started to shake and jolt out of place. Naruto was caught by surprise and tried to keep his balance before the rock was removed from the rest of the structure and pushed up into the air.

Mira pulled away from the massive rock she had pushed off before breaking straight through its center and reducing it to rubble. Naruto was left falling through mid-air as Mira soared through the rocks and headed straight for the airborne Mage.

Naruto held out the Wind dragon sword to block against the demon girl's punch. They struggled for a moment but the enchanted sword ultimately cracked under the Strauss girl's fist and shattered. Mira took the opportunity and spun through the air to land a powerful roundhouse kick into Naruto's side.

Naruto guarded against the powerful kick by using his arm as a shield. He gritted his teeth as the end of her foot dug into his bicep. Naruto was sent flying through the air with Mira chasing after him. She gathered her magic into her hands until it turned black...

"Devil Blast!"

Black energy shot from her hand and impacted against Naruto, covering a portion of the sky in a dome of magic. The energy continued to expand before it started to shake sporadically. All of the Darkness magic dissipated to reveal Naruto in the center of the blast, singed and bruised but still able to deflect most of the damage by pulling out his Kokuryū.

Naruto landed on the ground and sprinted across the ground, appearing like nothing more than a blur to those that weren't paying attention. Mirajane struggled to catch up to him after his speedy head-start but noticed that he had started to turn around a corner. The two mages were charging towards each other and prepared to clash.

Mira's fist and Naruto's sword impacted against each other, causing a massive shockwave to shake the area and push the two mages back from the force. They both skidded across the dirt before dashing forward to intercept each other again.

Mira's scale covered fists clashed and parried Naruto's sturdy black sword, causing the ground beneath them to fissure and crack from their power. Naruto and Mira's attacks flashed, going faster and faster as they tried to gain the upper hand.

Mira used both hands to push Naruto's blade back long enough to gather her magic. Her Water magic became far more powerful in this form, shredding apart the rock and ground around them as the heavy torrent impacted against Naruto.

Naruto sheathed his black blade and summoned his Fire dragon instead. A massive wall of fire grew in front of him and evaporated the rushing water before it reached him. Mira stopped the stream of pressurized water and gathered it around her hands for a more devastating attack. Naruto did the same by sending magic into the enchanted blade and increasing the flames.

Mira threw her hands out, "Evil Explosion!"

Naruto swung his sword out, "Blazing Dragon Tail!"

The two opposing elements clashed and created a massive cloud of rushing steam. The steam cover lingered for a moment as the two mages were lost out of sight by the result of their attacks. Makarov furrowed his eyes and tried his damnedest to find them in the steam.

He yelled, "AW DAMMIT! WHAT NOW?!"

Gildarts was right besides him, his eyes darting back and forth along the ground, "Stop yelling, Old Man! I can't concentrate!" He was actually getting excited with their fight. He didn't want to miss a second of it.

Cana and Erza weren't on their knees like the older mages but they were also looking over the edge.

Laxus even opened his eyes again after he heard all the commotion they were causing.

When the spectating Fairies finally saw the two combatants again, they were further down the trench. Still in sight, but out of hearing range.

Naruto and Mira were both panting after coming out of the exchange. Naruto wiped some sweat off of his brow and looked over to the girl. He chuckled and gave a small smile, "Hey, what's wrong Mira? It feels like you ain't putting your all into this. Are you holding back on me, right?"

Naruto expected Mirajane to throw an insult or joke back at him but he was surprised to see her furrow her eyes in anger at him. She yelled back, "What about you?"

"What?"

"I'm sparing my magic because I need as much of it as I can get! But even if you run out of magic, you've still got that wind stuff you can use on me!" Mira was glaring as she became irritated at the blond male, "So what the hell are you doing, huh?! I know you ain't one of those pansies that would go easy on me because I'm a girl!"

Naruto shook his head, "No, I-"

"Then what?! Why aren't you fighting seriously?! I know you're stronger than this!" Mira's demonic eyes glared at Naruto in slight contempt for purposefully holding back his abilities at such a crucial point in their exam, "So what the hell are you doing Naruto?! Fight me! NOW!"

Naruto was shocked by her exclamation. He didn't know what to say that would calm the Strauss girl's heated argument. Could he actually say anything that wouldn't be like throwing an insult in her face? She was probably right too. He knew how important this fight was. And it would be wrong if he didn't put everything he had into winning this battle. But still...

Naruto couldn't bring himself to it.

Mira saw the change in Naruto's face and narrowed her eyes. She calmed herself down as her body started being covered by systematic white squares. When they faded away, she had deactivated her Satan Soul and was instead in her normal form.

Naruto and the other spectators were surprised by her decision in the midst of the match. But before anyone could questions her choice, Mira looked at Naruto sternly, "Fine then. No more games. This is where we both get serious."

Her body was once again covered in Take-Over magic as her form was momentarily blocked out by a shining light. After a few seconds, her magic disappeared and left her in a different form...

Something they had never seen before.

Cana's eyes widened when she saw the new form Mira had changed into. She asked, "Is-is that Mirajane?"

"Yes." Erza crossed her arms and kept her focus clearly on the two people below, "That's what she used to get the map from me."

"What is it?"

"Something she was never able to fully use before." Gildarts added in without looking over to the younger girl, "It was a spell she had learnt but never actually used because it drained too much of her magic. But she's been training for the last few months so she could fully control it."

Mira's body no longer had the large scales that traveled up her arms, the large tail that came out behind her or the black wings that grew from her back. Instead, her body was covered in some type of blue body suit with a cape coming out the back. She had two large golden horns protruding out of her head and her feet were coated in flames. She opened her eyes and sent a powerful glare that made Naruto freeze in place for a moment.

"Satan Soul: Sitri."

Before anything else could be said, Mira had disappeared and reappeared with her fist smashing through the Fire sword and planting itself in Naruto's gut. His eyes widened and he gasped in pain before his body was sent flying through a rock. He was flying through the rubble before Mira came down and used her feet to plant him into the ground.

She bent down and grabbed the handle of his black blade before pulling it out of its sheathe and flying out of his reach. Her Darkness magic gathered into her hand in an instant and she aimed it at her friend...

"Soul Extinction!"

The powerful magic attack impacted against Naruto and destroyed everything around it. Strong gusts of wind spread out from where the attack hit as Mira stood silently from the side. The spectators watched the black magic attack start to dissipate as the whiskered bond didn't come bouncing back.

Mira yelled, "There you go Blondie, now I'm showing you everything I've got! You have no reason to hold back anymore! And if you do for even a second, I'll waste you like you are nothing!"

The rubble from the falling rocks started to settle as Mira looked at the black sword in her hand and grunted. She looked back up to the dust cloud, "You're not the only one that wants to get stronger! All of us were scared after Damnation! After Hashirama-ojisan died! After you got hurt! None of us are just gonna sit there and wait for everyone to come back anymore! So don't you dare think you're the only one that has to change here! I'm gonna make sure that whatever happened back then never happens again..."

"So you should start doing the same!" Mira threw the priceless Kokuryū at the dust cloud after she finished her exclamation.

And instantly, a hand shot out of the rubble and caught it by its handle. The rubble shifted across the dirt and Naruto slowly emerged from underneath, his clothes ripped up and bruises evident around his body. He slowly walked forward and fluidly returned his black blade to its sheathe. Before grasping the combination and sending it back to his Requip space.

"You're right Mira. I was fighting but I wasn't putting everything I had into it. But here, of all times, we need to show everything we can do." He got into a long stance and held his right elbow out at the white-haired girl. His body was slowly covered in Armor until his entire form was coated in a shimmering light.

The wind started to pick up around him as he peeked over his arm at the Take-Over Mage, "So I'm coming at you with my all. Get ready."

Mirajane tensed up when she saw Naruto take that stance. She felt a strong magic emanating from his body as the wind started to pick up until it visibly started to swirl around his feet. She kept her glare on him for as long as possible...

Until she felt an urge in the back of her head to jump away. She ducked to the side-

"Storm Step."

*BOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM*

Mira felt an almost bone-breaking vibration run through her entire body as the massive shockwave missed her by only a few inches. Naruto had disappeared from one point and instantly appeared behind her in another, leaving the ground he had kicked off of in nothing but a massive crater and a large trench following behind him.

Mira looked at the result in complete disbelief. He had kicked off the ground as fast and powerful as he possibly could. And he used that Armor and Wind combination to increase the power and speed by exponential levels. The cloth around his elbow was ripped up and his shoes had been mostly shredded. That sound and shockwave...

That was a sonic boom.

Blondie just broke the fucking sound barrier.

And he nearly rammed into her with it.

Most of the Fairies looked at the blond's new technique in amazement. Erza was speechless. This was the technique Naruto had been practicing for the last few months. The one he didn't show anybody.

Mira took a moment to smile before chuckling and looking at Naruto's equally eager smile. Now...it was getting interesting.

Naruto fell to his hands and kicked at the Sitri girl, sending a solid ball of wind in her direction. Mira jumped up and used her fire to maneuver through the air and at the low blond.

He spun on his hands with his feet out and deflected Mira's punches before they reached him. He lowered himself down again and jumped away before the Strauss girl overwhelmed him. Armor covered both his arms and he started throwing punches as fast as he could, "Knights' Crusade!"

Mira struggled to swim through the horde of heavy flying magical attacks. They weren't quick but man could Blondie make a lot of them. And since they shattered the surrounding stone on impact, she opted to not let them touch her.

She kicked at him and expanded the fire around her feet until they completely covered the lower levels of the canyon. Naruto jumped out of the fire's path and used his chakra to stand on the side of a structure. He spun around just in time to catch Mira's fist before it planted itself in his cheek.

They started at each other before Mira asked, "Why'd you send your blade back?"

Naruto smiled confidently and squeezed her fist, "Because I don't want to always rely on it. Plus..." He gave her a big grin, "This is way more fun."

They started trading blows and running through the canyon. The spectating Fairies watched with complete focus as the two mages duked it out. They had been fighting for the better part of an hour now and the damage was starting to accumulate. This was starting to boil down to who hit harder and who would keep standing.

Mira's hands were covered by a blazing fire as Naruto's shimmered with the light from his Armor. They were both panting as their stamina started to wear out. They knew this fight was going to come to an end soon enough.

Naruto changed the form of his Armor into large claws and used them to swipe at Mira, barely missing her when she jumped back. But Naruto spun into another long stance and braced his shoulder for another impact. He gathered up the necessary power as Mira panicked and jumped up out of the way.

"Storm Step!"

His dash forward destroyed another column of rocks as Mira stayed airborne to evade his attack. Cana looked over to Gildarts, "H-hey Gildarts, was that the technique Naruto used to take your map?"

The Ace thought for a moment before humming and shaking his head, "Nope, not that move."

Naruto hissed as he felt blood trickle down his shoulder and some cuts on the soles of his feet. That technique was awesome but it took a heavy toll on his body to move at that speed. His legs could only take 5 or 6 times a day before the pain was too much.

He had already used two Storm Steps on Gildarts earlier and that was the second one he had used on Mirajane.

But he could handle the stress on his body.

He spotted Mira's flying form amongst the falling rubble and jumped onto a large falling stone. He braced himself again, "Storm Step!"

He launched himself off the midair rock, reducing it to pieces, and flew at Mira in a blur. She braced herself and raised the fires around her to their maximum output. The whiskered Mage impacted against her and after they both struggled to push the other one back, the two forces exploded.

Naruto started to fall towards the earth and Mira tried to regain her senses after the blast. She shook her head before she flew down towards the falling Mage, preparing to attac-

Mira's eyes widened in surprise when saw what Naruto was doing.

All of the other Fairies looked up at the fight in complete disbelief. Gildarts nodded his head at the sight, "Yeah. That's what he used on me."

Naruto was crouching in the middle of the air with what looked like a vortex swirling under his feet. He was using his Wind to stand on the air.

Shit.

"Void Storm Step!"

Naruto launched himself and barreled into Mirajane's chest. They flew into the ground and separated from each other. They rolled around in the dirt until they stopped and were both panting heavily. They pushed themselves up onto their hands and knees before looking towards each other.

Mira tensed her arms and started to cover her entire body in a white hot flame. Darkness started to form over the flames around her hands as the light and dark elements started to swirl together.

Naruto matched her glare and started to gather Wind until it formed a large sphere around him.

The two forces started to collide with each other as they grew and grew. The two opposing mages stood up...

Naruto dashed forward with his Wind around him, "Grand Maelstrom Charge!"

Mira threw her hands out, "Burning Soul Extinction!"

*BOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM*

The spectating Fairies had to cover their eyes after the scalding hot wind from the explosion nearly knocked them off their feet. The remaining rock structures around them had been blown away from the resulting blast. The wind and explosion finally started to fade away as a massive column of black smoke rose from below.

Mira's Satan Soul: Sitri form disappeared along with the rest of her magic. Her body was beaten and bruised with her vision going fuzzy with every passing moment. Her arms were burnt and singed and she struggled to stay up on her feet. She didn't have any magic left but still she did not waver.

While Mira struggled to catch her breath inside the smoke, a figure made its way to her through the black haze. Naruto slowly emerged in front of the exhausted Strauss girl. His clothes were burnt away and there was clear damage from the last attack over his entire body. He was panting and it didn't look like he had much left to fight with...

But he could still move.

If he punched her, she would be down for the count. Hell, if he nudged her she would probably fall down. Mira looked up at him with heavy eyes, "C-come on...it's your win..."

Naruto looked down at his feet while clenching his fists. He stood there for a moment, contemplating his decision to strike the exhausted girl down and ending the exam. But...he just couldn't.

Mirajane couldn't keep her balance up anymore and fell forward. Naruto caught her before she fell on the ground and helped her into a more restful position.

Just then, they both heard a soft thud against the dirt and looked over to see their short master make his way over to them. Makarov sighed, "Okay, I think that's enough for today."

He stood by their side and raised his hand, "I hereby call this year's S-Class Exam to an official end!"

########Hunter########

Naruto was lying down on his bed as he felt the boat sail over the waves. The entire group of Fairies had made their way onto the boat after the exam was finished.

They didn't even know the result yet. Makarov had promised he would make the announcement when they arrived back at the guild.

The exam had finished by sundown yesterday and they had been traveling on the boat all night. They were going to arrive at the port within the hour and then they would be back in Fairy Tail before nightfall.

After the fight had ended, Naruto had gotten bandaged up and brought back to his room. In which he immediately fell on his bed and drifted off into blissful sleep. His body was aching like hell after brawling with Mira and using so many Storm Steps continuously. Naruto had only woken up about an hour ago and now he was just lying there resting.

*Knock*Knock*

The whiskered man heard a knock at his door and sat up on his bed. Nobody had come to his room all day. Who was it? Erza? Jiji?

He announced, "It's open."

The wooden door creaked open and standing on the other side was...

Mirajane. Bandages all over the visible parts of her body and a small scowl directed at the resting blond. She nodded at him, "Hey."

"Hey."

The Strauss girl made her way into his room and plopped her butt on the edge of his bed, confusing Naruto before he shrugged and pulled himself up to give her more room. She rubbed the ache out of her shoulders before looking over to the blond, "How are you feeling? Cause I feel like I took on a freight train and lost."

Naruto shrugged and circled his shoulder around with a small smile, "Ah, it's still hurts a little. But it's bearable."

"Wait. Why the hell are you still hurt?" Mira started waving her arm around like she was holding something, "Aren't you the guy with the 'Fix-Me Up Sword'. Just a touch and boom, no more pain."

Naruto made an uncaring grunt before leaning back into his headboard, "Nah. If I always rely on the Sky sword, then I'll probably feel useless if I ever come into a situation where it doesn't work. Besides..." Naruto tapped his chest covered in bandages, "I don't need to take it out for every little thing. Only serious injuries. Imagine if I used a sword like that just to fix every little cut or bruise I got."

"I'd call you a pussy."

Naruto gave her a little glare, "Geez, don't even lead up into it, huh?" Mira scoffed and shrugged her shoulders, "And you're the one who made me like this in the first place. Using that crazy demon thing on me! That shit was insane!"

"Oh like you're one to talk." Mira made a stupid face, "Oh, look at me, I can run faster than sound! Oh, too high to reach it? That's okay, I can fly now apparently!" Mira glared at him, "I mean what the hell man?!"

Naruto didn't meet her eyes as he looked off to the side, "H-hey, it was just an idea that came to me. But it hurts like hell to use. And I can't fly! I can just...you know...jump off the air."

"Oh like that's any different!" She looked away with an obviously played out 'twinkly eye' expression and a more meek voice, "What was I supposed to do? The mean ol'Blondie pulled out a scary new technique I couldn't fight against." She started wiping fake tears out of her eyes, "And when he barreled into me! Ah! How was my weak little girly body supposed to handle getting hit with a sonic boom like that? Oh, woe is me."

Naruto gave the white-haired goth a flat look after she finished her little act. He raised an eyebrow, "You know, when I use Void Storm Step, I don't actually go nearly as fast as when I'm on the ground. Nothing to kick off of. So you don't have any reason to complain like that."

He decided to address that part of her painful speech as he didn't want to talk about the obvious glaring issue she added. Weak, girly body? Bitch changed into a demon. And she hit fucking hard. He should be the one crying.

"Excuses! Just words you're stringing together into a valid argument that no one will believe!"

"Please leave. You're making the recovery very difficult."

"Nah. Not yet." Mira lost all semblance of a mistreated young woman as she embraced her rough attitude yet again. She crossed her legs, "I feel comfy. Don't wanna just up and leave yet."

Naruto's brow started to twitch in irritation at her aloof atitude, "This is my room! You have your own room! Go sleep in it!"

Mira just gave an exhausted sigh and nodded her head, "Okay, okay, I understand, Grumpy. I'll leave..." She opened her eyes and looked towards the door to the room. The one she knew a certain scarlet-haired knight was standing on the other side after she asked her to come here. She looked over to Naruto, "But on one condition."

Naruto's scowl faded as he blinked in confusion. He tilted his head, "What is it?"

Mira was silent for a moment. She contemplated what she was going to say and if it was really going to work. She looked directly at Naruto, "I want you..."

"To tell me what really happened on the night Damnation attacked."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. He wasn't expecting that. Had she been thinking about that whole situation for awhile?

Naruto closed his eyes and shook his head, "I don't know what to tell ya. You guys should probably know the story by now. I can't really-"

"Bullshit!" Mira yelled before she pointed at his face in anger, "I knew you weren't going to tell me right away but I didn't think you'd be lying straight to my face! You ass!"

Naruto was caught off guard by her heated exclamation. He just blinked as Mira lowered her hand and started growling angrily, "There's some secret all of you guys are hiding from the rest of us and it's pissing me off! I've thought about a bunch of different theories and ideas but I can never get a real answer! So quit stalling and tell me now!"

Naruto tried to mediate the situation before it got out of hand, "Hey, calm down. There isn't anything to hide."

Mira's glare grew much more resentful after hearing him say that. She added, "We were all upset after Hashirama-ojisan died, but after you came back to the guild you sometimes had a far away look in your eye. Erza did too. And whenever Mahiro came back from her job she always came to you to see how you were doing."

Mira then placed her hand on her chest, "And ever since the attack you haven't taken anything as seriously as you did our fight! And even then you only did it because I knocked some sense into you! Before all that happened, if I was exhausted like I was at the end of the fight you would have just knocked me down without any worry at all!"

Naruto looked at her with a little pain in his eye and a flat tone, "Is that how you see me? Knocking beaten girls unconscious?"

"I know something happened because you guys never want to talk about it! And even though we haven't said anything, the rest of us in the guild have been worrying about all of you!" Mira stopped for a moment, calming down before the look in her eyes softened, "If nothing happened, why are you all so scared to talk to us?"

Erza leaned against the wall by the door to Naruto's room. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back in disappointment at her actions. She didn't think everyone in the guild was worried about all of them like that. If Mira was telling the truth then Erza had been completely ignorant of all their feelings.

She felt horrible for making everyone else feel so scared.

"I..." Naruto pierced the silence as he struggled to find the words to ease Mirajane's worry. He continued to think before he looked up at her with sadness in his eyes, "I can't Mira. I'm sorry."

He just couldn't bring himself to involve her in his twisted thoughts. He didn't know why but it felt so hard to do the right thing.

Mira closed her eyes for a moment after Naruto's reply. She took in a deep breath...

"A guild is a family you can always put your trust into. Whether there is a heavy weight on your shoulders or a heavy thought in your head, we'll be here to help you bear it. So stop being a bitch and put some faith in me."

Erza lifted her head in surprise before she gave a small smile at Mirajane's choice of words. Naruto looked at the goth girl in confusion, "Huh?"

Mira had a little blush on her face as she continued talking, "A-after I came to the guild, I didn't open up to anybody except Lisanna and Elfman. But then that stuck-up armor bitch came up to my table and accused me of stealing her cake. After I totally kicked her ass, she took me aside and said those exact same words to me. She didn't seem to put much thought into her words because I had to tell her the same thing a few weeks later when she was feeling sad."

Mira coughed to dispel her blush and looked back at Naruto, "What it means is that despite what you might think, you've totally forgotten what the point of a guild is. To trust each other. To bring other people into your misery because they can help you through it. If you don't want to tell everyone in the guild I understand, but you can't keep it pent up like this forever. So...here's the deal..."

Mira looked over to the lounging blond, "Just for now...while we are in this room and on this ship...you and I will tell each other one truth we've been hiding from everyone else. And that will be it. We won't bring it up again and we can both forget about it when we walk off this boat. No one else has to know..."

Naruto and Mirajane were silent as they looked at each other in thought. It took a moment but Naruto slowly nodded his head. Mira nodded in return before looking down at her lap and taking a deep breath...

"I'm...afraid I'm not strong enough to control my magic."

Mira held her hands together as she started to intertwine her fingers, "When I was growing up, I was the first one out of all of us that started learning magic from our parents. My mom and dad had a bunch of different Take-Over magics we could learn from. And I wanted to learn how to control the power of demons."

Mira gave a dry chuckle when she remembered the worried expressions on her parents' faces when she chose the Satan Soul magic. She had a fond smile on her face when remembering her parents, "They told me that was the most powerful and difficult form of magic they had to choose from. But I didn't care. I wanted to become strong so I could help them with their jobs and protect Elfman and Lisanna."

Her expression fell for a moment, "But...the first time I used Satan and Sitri, I was so...angry. I didn't even know why. But I lost all reason and control. I even attacked my parents just because they were close to me. When a Take-Over Mage can't control the form they've taken, they lose all semblance of what made them human. And it's almost impossible to bring them back from their madness without crippling their mentality and magic power. My parents were able to talk me down, but not before I destroyed almost everything in sight. Because during that whole time, I wasn't Mirajane anymore...I was just a demon."

"Now, every time I use my Satan Soul, I'm reminded of what it was like to be an absolute demon that tried to kill everything around me." Mira opened her hands to peer down at her palms, "So ever since my parents died, I never tried to use Sitri since I didn't think I could control it. And I always finish my missions as quickly as possible because I want to limit how much I use Satan Soul."

Naruto looked at the Strauss girl in understanding. Hell, he could sympathize with her. If losing control of Satan Soul was anything like when he was controlled by Danzō, he could understand why she would be worried.

"But..." Naruto was brought out of his thoughts when Mira's voice took on a steely resolve and she gave him a firm glare, "It doesn't matter how scared I might feel or how powerful the demons might be. If my family needs me, I would dive into the flames and come back out a monster if it meant I could help them."

It was odd to see the stubborn and proud Mirajane reveal her underlying doubt in her abilities after all this time. But even after telling him what she thought about herself, she was determined to do whatever it took to keep growing. Even if that meant steering straight into her fears.

Naruto was actually sort of envious of her resolve.

After Mira had finished saying her piece, she looked at Naruto expectantly. He moved back after seeing her look and thought about what to do. He didn't have to say. He wasn't being forced. Mira would be furious at him for not saying anything but that was something that could probably fix over time. He could stay silent...

But he didn't want to.

"The guys in charge of Damnation were never actually captured. While everyone else was fighting off the army...I killed Sorrento and his generals."

Mira was surprised to say the least. They were way off on the torture idea.

"Hashi-Ji got killed saving my life from those guys and when I woke up, I was just overwhelmed with anger. I didn't even try to stop myself. I gotten beaten, cut up, broken, bloody, and I didn't care. All I wanted was to make those fuckers pay...and I did."

Naruto looked out the port side window at the waves crashing against the boat and sighed. He looked back at the gothic girl, "After it was all done, I was actually thinking that I was going to be kicked out of the guild. I thought I deserved it. I couldn't bear the idea of coming back to the guild after what I had done. But Jiji accepted me here and made sure I could move past what happened. And I have, for the most part."

"But the reason I didn't fight you all out or knock you down yesterday..." Naruto rubbed the back of his head before looking at Mira, "I'm worried about what would happen if I hurt any of you. That anger and ferocity I had when I lost control, that was all me. And I have to make sure I'm always in control of it. Or else I might hurt someone I care about."

He gave a tired sigh and shook his head. A sad smile came on his face as Mira seemed speechless, "You're really strong Mira, I know that. And I didn't mean to insult you if you thought differently. But I can't afford to slip up anymore. I know that now."

Mira was silent after Naruto finished spilling the truth. She was completely caught off-guard by that confession. Was that what all the S-Class guys were keeping secret? Heh, no wonder they were so tip-lipped.

"That's some heavy shit. I wasn't expecting that." She looked over at Naruto as he waited to hear her piece, "You really mean all of that, don't you?"

Naruto nodded his head.

Mira thought for a moment before she smiled and nodded her head, "Okay, then I understand."

"What?"

"Yeah. I don't think we should always result to killing to solve a problem, but I also know what they did and what would have happened if they were still alive. I can't tell you what was right or wrong, but I believe you had to make the choice you thought was best." She gave Naruto a soft smile, "I'll keep your secret Naruto. I promise."

Naruto was silent as Mira reassured she didn't blame him or think any differently of him. He closed his eyes, breathing deeply to calm himself after telling her the truth. He gave her a thankful nod, "Thank you Mira."

Erza felt a sense of relief wash over her after hearing the two of them talk like this. Naruto could finally start opening up again to the rest of the guild after relying on Mira with his secret. And Mira could start relying on him as well.

Erza pushed off the wall and was about to open the door when she heard Mirajane follow up.

"And I promise you can still trust me even after I'm named the new S-Class!"

Erza just sighed. Way to ruin the mood idiot.

Naruto had an unamused look on his face before he scoffed and looked away, "Geez, and just when my opinion of you was about to change. Way to ruin the mood, idiot."

Erza nodded in agreement with his statement.

"Don't call me an idiot you prick!" Mira's scowl grew and she glared at him, "And what the hell do you mean you were gonna change your opinion of me?! Is it already bad?!"

Naruto smacked her hand away from his face, "Here I was thinking you were actually kinda cute for a moment but then you had to open your mouth and ruin it."

...

Erza had a miffed look on her face after hearing that sentence. And Mira was blinking in confusion. Before she just laughed it off, "Oh, I get it. You're talking about my overwhelming beauty that puts even the goddesses to shame, am I right?"

Naruto leaned back after hearing her stroke her own ego and shook his head. "No, I mean you actually look like a pretty girl when you aren't blowing yourself up like that. Maybe change the personality and you might be kind of tolerable."

With Naruto looking away, he didn't notice the slight blush that came up on Mira's face when he called her pretty. She couldn't remember ever hearing a boy call her anything besides 'scary' or 'freak'.

Mira's eyes momentarily shot over to the door. And devilish smirk stretched over her face as she decided to tease two idiots at once.

"Oooohhhh~? You think I'm pretty, huh?" Mira started to climb up on bed and crawl her way over to Naruto.

Mira made her way over his legs and was coming up to his chest. He looked at her in surprise as he leaned back, "Mira, what are you-"

"Well if you want, I can show you just how much of a demon I can be." She said in a sultry, teasing tone as her current position left Naruto with an uninterrupted sight of her large cleavage.

He was sputtering with a pink blush on his face. He didn't know what to do in this kind of situation. His mind kept drawing a blank as Mira's face came closer and closer to his, "M-Mira, stay back-"

"You know..." Mira huffed out in a heavy voice as she was becoming more and more seductive with each passing second, "You might hate it when I talk, but I can make other noises if I'm pushed to it. So why don't you...and I-"

*SLAM*

The door swung open with enough force to crack the wall behind it. The two mages looked over to see the red-headed S-Class standing in the doorway with an unamused look on her face. Naruto looked at her in surprise, "E-Erza! I-it's not what you think! M-Mira was-"

"Pervert." Mira joked as she looked at Erza with a knowing smile. The Scarlet girl just pouted at her as Mira sat back up, "Naughty girl Erza, watching us have fun like a dumb animal. Us civilized people with brains call that being a peeping tom."

"What the hell are you talking about?! You just started crawling up me and-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Mira leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Naruto was completely dumb-founded as Erza gave the Take-Over Mage an angry scowl. Mira jumped off the bed and waved Naruto goodbye, "See ya Blondie. Our little talk was fun. Let's do it again some time."

As Mira walked past Erza, she have her a quick wink with her tongue stuck out of her mouth. Mirajane left the two mages alone in the room before Erza slowly turned around to look at Naruto. He shook his head, "We weren't-I mean I don't think-I don't know what was happening-"

Erza just took a deep breath and walked over to his bed with a med-kit in hand. She sat on his bed, "Shut up you moron. It's time to change your bandages anyway."

Naruto wearingly started to pull up his clothes so he could undo the old bandages for his best friend to change. He looked at her with some fear directed at her, "E-Erza, you aren't mad, right?"

"Of course not." Erza pulled the bandages off the roll and started to help wrap them around Naruto's body, "Why would I be mad?"

"I don't know. It just kinda seemed like you were mad at-AAHHHHHHHHH!" Naruto let out a blood curtailing scream as Erza prematurely pulled the bandages tight and wrapped Naruto's arm in a twisted manner around his neck, "ERZA! TOO TIGHT! ITS TOO TIGHT! OW OW OW OW-AHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Erza didn't know what his problem was. Bandages need to be applied tightly to the injured area, that was common knowledge. She didn't know why he thought she was doing it wrong. Or why he was foaming at the mouth as he let out a dying strangled breath.

########Hunter########

"L-Lolo!"

"Close! You're almost there!" The handsome man said as he cheered the little toddler on, "It's Loke! Loke! C'mon!"

"Lolo!"

The new member of Fairy Tail let out a long sigh in defeat. He gave a weak smile, "Well, I guess it's a bit much to ask a two-year old to get it right away."

Natsu pushed Loke out of the way and lowered his face to the little girl's level where she sat on top of the table, "Me next! Me next! Say Natsu! Natsu!"

Koyuki struggled for a moment as she tried to form the right syllables, "Na-Nana!"

Natsu looked at her in confusion before shaking his head, "No. I'm not Nana. I'm Natsu."

"Awww, don't let it get to you Natsu." Lisanna said as she grabbed Koyuki's little hands and started to play with her as she giggled happily, "It's hard for little kids this age to form new words right away."

"She's right Nana, give the kid a break." Gray added with a smug chuckle as he smacked Natsu in the back roughly, "Keep yelling at her and her first memory is gonna be of your ugly ass mug in front of her face."

"That or the image with your dick out walking around the guild." Macao announced from his table as he and Wakaba laughed like hyena.

Gray looked back at them, "The hell are you-GOD DAMMIT! ANYONE SEEN MY PANTS!" Gray yelled as he started running around the guild.

Happy flew down besides Natsu and walked over to the little girl, "I think you guys just aren't important enough for her to remember. See, she remembers me. Right Koyuki?"

"Kitty!"

"See, I told-" Happy was shut up when he was roughly pulled by his tail and enveloped into a spine-breaking hug by the excited toddler. Once again, she hugged him so tightly that his eyes popped out of his head like a stuffed animal and he made a squeaking sound.

Lisanna gave a weak laugh at Happy's pained expression while Elfman raised an eyebrow at the situation, "Is it me, or was he just kinda asking for that to happen?"

"W-wow." A young woman with shoulder length green hair said as she looked at the little toddler strangle the blue cat with a smile on her face. She looked up at Lisanna, "And Erza-San takes care of this little girl all by herself? That's amazing!"

Lisanna gave a dry chuckle, "N-no, Bisca. Naruto takes care of Koyuki too. They share the job of taking care of her together. We just have to take care of her while they are both gone."

"T-together!" Bisca had a blush on her face as her respect for the red-headed made continued to grow, "E-Erza-San is so grown up! H-having a child and taking care of her at such a young age."

"Okay. You still seem to be missing a crucial detail here."

"Leave it Lisanna." Elfman said as he gave the other new guildmate a tired expression, "I don't think she's listening anymore."

"HEY! WE'RE BACK!"

Everyone in the guild immediately shut up when the large doorway of the guild was full with all their members that went off to the S-Class exam. After a moment, everyone present in the guild came running up to the front of the guild to meet the old master for his announcement.

"They're back!"

"Finally! We were getting worried!"

"Woah! What the hell happened to Naruto and Mira?!"

"They look like they just pulled themselves out of hell!"

"NEE-CHAN!" Elfman barged forward and knocked everybody else in his way on their asses, "WHAT HAPPENED?! WHO DID THIS TO YOU?!"

Mira silently pointed at Naruto.

Everyone else in the guild looked at him in surprise. He looked at them with an annoyed scowl, "Oh fuck off! She blew me up!"

"All right! All right! That's enough from all of you!" Makarov climbed up the closest table and stretched out. He looked out at the members of his guild, "As you know, every year, we have members of our family pitted against each other in a test to see who is worthy of the title of S-Class. Personally, I believe each and every one of you has the potential to earn that title. But just like any other test, it is something you must work for and earn."

"During the test I come to evaluate your strength, skill, and competence under pressure. Along with any other factors I believe may come into play during your time as an advanced Mage. Some years, I can not bring myself to promote any of the participants."

Many of the Fairy mages nodded in understanding. There was a chance that this would be another Exam without a winner.

"But that is not the case this year." Makarov looked forward to all his children, "On the way back, I contemplated and decided on who I thought deserved this honor. And I have come to a decision."

Everyone went silent as Makarov drew out the tension with a prolonged silence.

"The winner of the S-Class Exam..."

Mirajane closed her eyes and accepted the fact that she didn't even come close to winning the fight and believed that Naruto had won fairly. If that was the case, then she was just going to have to win some other year. Heh, that was fine.

"Is a tie!" Makarov turned around and pointed to both of the bandaged mages, "I hereby promote both Naruto Uzumaki and Mirajane Strauss to the status of S-Class Mage! Congratulations!"

Everyone was silent as the announcement sunk in. Mira was shocked as she didn't know how to react to the fact she had just been promoted. This was everything she was training towards for the last year. What was she supposed to do...

"COP-OUT!" Mira yelled as she slammed her fist on the table and caught everyone else off-guard with her yell. Mira fumed at the little man, "What the hell Master?! I totally lost to Naruto in the last part of the exam! He's the only one who deserves to be promoted! What's with this tie crap?!"

Makarov regained his balance before looking at Mira tiredly, "Well, all I remember was that there was no clear winner after the last fight. So I had to decide the winner on different merits."

"Bullshit! You want a clear winner?!" Mira grabbed Naruto's forearm and started pulling him towards the door, "C'mon Blondie! We're settling this now!"

"Huh?"

"Are they gonna fight?"

"I don't know."

"Hey!" Makarov slammed his Titan hands in front of the retreating mages and stopping them from reducing the town to rubble. He looked up at the mages and before he fixed his clothes, "I didn't just do this on a whim you know. I truly believe you both deserve the title. You both proved your skills and fortitude during the exams. And during the fight, I noticed you both took great strides to improve yourselves since I last saw you fight. I take great pride in knowing you both have come such a long way since those two brats I let come under my roof."

Mira and Naruto were both silent for a moment before they looked between each other. Naruto looked back down at the short Wizard Saint, "You aren't changing your mind, are you?"

"Nope." He walked past them and headed back towards his signature place on the counter top. He passed them with a smile, "I suggest you both accept it."

Mira and Naruto looked back towards the rest of the guild as they waited for some sign from the winners. Naruto smiled and shrugged his shoulders before grabbing Mira's hand and raising it up in a victorious manner.

"YEAH!"

The guild cheered in joy as they bum rushed the two new S-Class mages. Naruto laughed as he surrounded by all of his guildmates, cheering for him and patting him on the back. Koyuki nearly jumped out of Lisanna's arms so she could give Naruto a big hug around the neck. Natsu was already challenging him to a duel.

Mira was receiving the same kind of praise as her little brother and sister enveloped her in a family hug. Mira's uncertainty started to waver as everyone around her congratulated her on the achievement. Her eyes momentarily met Erza's as her rival gave her a happy smile and a nod of acknowledgement.

Mira just sighed before a big smile grew on her face.

Aw, what the hell. It was time to celebrate.

########Hunter########

"*Yawn* Oh man, I can't wait to get back home." Naruto proclaimed as he stretched out his aching body while walking home with Erza a few steps in front of him. It was past midnight and everyone in the guild had been celebrating like crazy. He smiled as his feet kicked up the gathering snow that filled the streets, "I'm gonna sleep like a baby when I get home."

"Mm-hmm." Erza hummed as she held Koyuki close to her after she had fallen asleep at the guild. The little Senju girl she saw like a baby sister was resting peacefully against her armor, warmed up by the comfy winter clothing she had to combat against the cold temperature. It was her turn to take care of the toddler so she was going to see Naruto off before heading back to Fairy Hills.

Naruto felt some of his cheery attitude damper with Erza's simple acknowledgement of his achievement today. He gave her a pout which she couldn't currently see, "Hey, what's with you? Are you mad a me still?"

"Why would I be mad at you?"

"I don't know. Maybe you're still angry about what Mira said on the boat or something?"

"Why would whatever that prissy-up little bimbo have to say make me angry?"

"I don't know! But it seems like you're ignoring me!" Naruto started waving his arms around in protest, "C'mon Erza be a little happier! We celebrated when you got S-Class!"

Erza stopped in place, making Naruto shut up and stop as well. She was silent for a moment before she sighed and looked back at him with a little smile, "Okay, I guess you're right. We should celebrate." She turned to face him, "Close your eyes."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at her odd request, "Why would I-"

"Close. Or no celebration."

Naruto looked at her oddly before shrugging his shoulders and following her demand. He closed his eyes and waited for whatever it was that was supposed to happen. After a moment, he was going to open them again and-

Something touched his lips. Something warm and soft. His eyes shot open in surprise and he looked down to see Erza kissing him. She had her eyes closed as she stood up on her toes to get a better level for the kiss.

Naruto's eyes stayed widened for a moment before they slowly closed and he just enjoyed the moment. It was a simple, chaste kiss on the lips but...it felt so warm. Her lips felt so good.

A few more seconds and Erza took her lips off of his. He slowly opened his eyes to see Erza giving him a proud and happy smile for his hard work, "Congratulations Naruto."

Erza just walked away, heading down a different path so she could go back home. She left Naruto completely dumbfounded in his spot in the street as more and more snowflakes fell around him. He stayed stagnant for a moment before a smile grew on his face.

He was loving being an S-Class Mage already.

########Hunter########

Done

In celebration of the Fairy Tail anime returning, I'm gonna do my best to update as much as I can this month. I've made that promise before so you can use your own judgement on whether I'll actually make it.

This was the main reason why I didn't have Naruto participate in the S-Class Exam with Erza. I wanted there to be a scenario where he could connect and become closer with someone else in the guild. Erza will always be the closest person to him in his heart but being in a guild means trusting others with your pain. And I decided to do that with Mira. I also realized that I haven't given much light on everyone else in the guild.

A bit late now but I'm gonna have to start picking that up once I'm done with this preceding saga.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you enjoy the next.

Plus, I'm gonna be right there for the return of Fairy Tail!

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Thank You and Bye