Chapter 5 – Pick Your Fights Carefully

Sabertooth, Summer Time,

Year X792

General Perspective

Rogue sat in Sting's chair, in the semi-cluttered room that was the White Dragon Slayer's office. A letter was opened on the absent Guild Master's desk, it had arrived that morning, along with two very bland-looking individuals, each with the symbol of the Zollzero family's private guild, Zero Star, emblazoned on their suits. With a sigh, the Shadow Dragon Slayer looked to those assembled before him. Besides Minerva, Yukino, Rufus and Orga there were some thirteen additional Mages from the guild, all with blank, confused, or sombre expressions on their faces. "So, that's what's going on" Rogue stated, his voice heavy as he finished relaying the information within the letter to the other wizards. Since receiving the letter that morning, he had been left to prepare alone, with only Yukino and Minerva to help him. After some major decisions, the Shadow Dragon Slayer had to gather those listed in the letter and explain to them the situation; in particular, the large debt that had just been dropped at their door.

"It seems this will be quite the issue" Rufus stated, holding his hat down over his eyes as his downcast gaze was mirrored by many others present; in all his or anyone else's time at Sabertooth, they had never once incurred such a debt; although that may have been due to their previous Master's tendency towards maltreatment of others, including any potential debtors.

"This will indeed be a problem" Minerva Orland confirmed, "In my… er… time in the underworld, I came across mention of the Zollzero family only twice. Both times it didn't end well for those who crossed them" she added with a sour expression. Rogue nodded in agreement with her assessment.

"Yes. Also, Sting will be staying at Fairy Tail during this time. He thinks it will help to build relations between our guilds, and it means he can make executive decisions on behalf of our guild quickly at their end" Rogue added, "However that means that the rest of us our going to have to work towards paying off that forty-million jewel ourselves".

Yukino pouted in thought. "Although it is a rather large sum… It's possible… but only if we work hard, and take the more high-paid jobs" the Celestial Mage reasoned, to which Rogue smiled.

"That was exactly what I thought, so that is why I'm going to begin a process of checking each and every job that we receive. I'll distribute them to you all based on what I know of your individual talents and abilities, and ensure you receive the high paid rewards" Rogue declared. This earned a general murmur of approval from the group. "Additionally, I will be taking some of the jobs too, so I propose that at any one time at least myself, Yukino or Minerva be present to help oversee this process. If that is acceptable?" the Shadow Dragon Slayer looked to the aforementioned two female wizards, who each stood to the front of the assembled group. The pair nodded.

"That's fine with me" Minerva smirked. Yukino looked less confident, but nodded also.

"Okay, I'll do my best" she stated. Rogue smiled, preparing himself for one last declaration.

"Finally… We can't fall behind on our payments, or let Sting down" he barked loudly, so that everyone assembled could hear him, "Fairy Tail got the head start, but it will be Sabertooth that will be first to pay off our side of the debt. Then Sting can return to us proud and happy" Rogue announced; this made the group all smile and nod.

"Yeah, Sabertooth's the greatest guild in Fiore. There isn't anything that we can't do" a few Mages said from the back.

"Hmmm… it's a large sum, but it's nothing compared to some of the foes we've faced" Rufus added on.

"Yeah, let's do this!" Orga bellowed from the centre of the crowd. Rogue looked to all of the assembled with a bright smile on his face. What a guild you've built Sting he thought with a hint of pride.

With that declaration, Yukino and Minerva cleared the room, leaving Rogue alone. Once all the wizards left, the Shadow Dragon Slayer allowed himself to frown; despite his rousing speech he still had some fears. I just hope you know what you're doing Sting he thought fearfully, we planned to let you stay there for a little while… so that you could do what you wanted and pursue your little crush, but things have changed and we can't let you stay away too long. A guild needs its Master…

Rogue could do nothing but silently hope that the White Dragon Slayer remembered that he was the Guild Master of Sabertooth, and because of that couldn't do anything too risky while he was over at Fairy Tail. Or do anything stupid, like focus more on his own little crush, than on the debt that had been laid at their door.

/

Magnolia, Summer Time

Year X792

Natsu Dragneel

I entered the guild with a smile. It had been about six days, almost a week, since the arrival of the weird family of children, and despite the announcement of the debt I couldn't help but feel happy. My first job with Sting had went well, and after arriving back at the guild, and handing over our section of the money we earned, me and Sting had spent the rest of the day laughing and messing around together. Initially I was afraid the blond would be all serious because of his position as Master, however it was the exact opposite. Instead Sting was always smiling, cracking jokes, and even asking me about some of the rumours or other stuff he'd heard either around the guild or out in town. Overall, it was quite fun to be around him.

Sitting at the bar, it wasn't long before I felt a tap at my shoulder. "Hey, Natsu" Happy said with a smile, "What'cha up to?"

I smirked. "I've just got here. Where were you yesterday?" I replied with a question.

Happy shrugged, "I went on a job with Wendy and Carla because Mira said you had to do something with Sting" the flying feline replied. "It was so boooooring, though… even if it was with Carla" Happy added.

I laughed. "If that's the case, why don't you come with me and Sting this time then?" I asked my partner.

Happy looked at me with a funny look. "Are you sure Sting'll be okay with this?" the cat asked with a concerned tone. I frowned.

"Yeah, why wouldn't he be, he's got a buddy of his own back at his guild so… I'm sure he'd understand. Plus, I don't see why he wouldn't let you come… we're only working together because of this debt thing" I replied hesitantly, my mind trying to process any possibility of Sting disallowing the exceed to accompany us.

I didn't have to think on it for long, as after a few minutes, I saw the spikey blond hair of the White Dragon Slayer himself poke its way out of a door, the visiting Guild Master returning from a meeting with Gramps. "Hey, Natsu" Sting greeted me with a bright grin as he picked me out at the bar and made his way over. I smiled back at him politely.

"Good morning Sting" I replied.

Sting took the seat next to me without asking. "When did you get here?" he asked, as Mirajane came over with a glass of water for the blond. "Thank you, Mirajane" Sting said to the waitress, who kindly smiled in reply. I waited until Sting was drinking to respond to his question and ask some of my own.

"I just arrived a couple of minutes ago" I said in response to his query, "I was planning on getting some breakfast, before checking out the jobs. I figured you'd already be here, since you seem to get here before me every day anyways" I added in a general tone. Sting nodded at my analysis, before smirking in a more knowing way.

"Oh, if that's the case then you might not need to check the board" the White Dragon Slayer smiled. I furrowed my brows for a moment in confusion.

"You already picked out a job?" I asked him. Again, Sting nodded.

"Yeah. Don't worry though, it's not some weird one. Makarov asked if I wanted it, said you'd like it" Sting explained, before passing me over a flier, "It pays really well, and it's just a simple Monster Hunt so it's not like we'll have to do anything too difficult. Plus, it's really close, so we shouldn't have to stay overnight, assuming we do this quickly" Sting further added.

My eyes glanced over the contents of the paper, before nodding. "Sure, sounds easy" I said, "I've just got one question…" I trailed off, looking up at the White Dragon Slayer with questioning eyes. Sting looked back at me intently. "Can Happy come?" I asked him, gesturing up to the exceed floating above our heads. Sting looked up for a moment, before looking back at me.

"Sure, I don't see why not" he smiled. I smiled back, before looking up to my partner.

"See, little buddy, I told you he'd be fine with it" I called up to the blue fur ball.

Happy grinned back down and gave me a thumbs-up, before flying off to find Carla and tell her that he'd be working with us this time. Sting watched Happy leave for a moment, before looking back to me. "So… what are you getting to eat?" he asked me, with a slightly hungry look.

I shrugged and called Mirajane over.

/

A couple of hours later, Happy and I got ready to leave with Sting on our job. Before we left, however, there was something that caught our attention. "But that's way more than ten percent!" Gray shouted angrily from a shaded corner of the guild.

Hearing the commotion, and the raised voice of my rival, I couldn't help but observe. Gray, who I knew had just returned from a job, was standing in front of the pair of Zollzero lackeys, his hands balled into fists and his face a picture of rage. Beside him stood Erza, with an equally annoyed scowl that sent bad memories immediately to the forefront of my mind. "I'm afraid as you completed the job together, even if you only originally took it, Mr Fullbuster, then it must be done" Haruki Himura, the younger of the two, stated.

"Haruki is correct on this point. The agreement is that your guild will pay its debt by sacrificing ten percent of each job that those selected participate on per participant" Kenji added. I listened confusedly to the conversation, looking to Happy.

"What's going on?" a voice behind me asked. I turned to see Sting and Lucy coming up to me.

"Oh… er…" I floundered to explain, "I don't know. I was just leaving to meet up with you, Sting, when I heard Gray start arguing" I said in lieu of an explanation.

Sting frowned and came to stand beside me, Lucy taking the place on the opposite side. "Seems like Gray and Erza are having an argument with those two over their pay" Lucy observed. I shrugged.

Listening back into the rapidly escalating discussion, Gray was busy angrily cursing the two. "It was my job. Erza just happened to help me capture a couple of the bandits whilst she was passing through on the way back from her own job!" the Ice Mage barked. Kenji stood up from his seat and stood beside Haruki.

"Be that as it may, the matter still stands that you both participated with regards to this request, and therefore are both responsible for two ten percent cuts, making a total of twenty percent due from your job reward" the old man stated. Erza narrowed her eyes.

"I am already giving you the ten percent from my job reward, and Gray is giving you his due also, so I don't see why he need suffer an additional penalty when all I did was assist in the capture of seven of the… large number of bandits that Gray had set out to defeat" the red head explained calmly, although even from their safe distance away Lucy and I could hear the faint traces of concealed anger in her words.

"Hmph… you don't seem to understand. The agreement was-" Haruki began to speak.

"WE KNOW THE AGREEMENT!" Gray shouted loudly, cutting the faux-blond teen off mid-sentence. "People in the guild help each other out in passing all the time, so I don't see why this should cause a problem" Gray added after a couple of inhaled breaths.

Haruki smirked. "The issue is not in the action, but in those that took it" the teen said, "If it was anyone else there would be no issue, however as it was Miss Scarlet whom assisted you, this levy must be enforced" the teen explained. Gray seemed to almost want to punch the boy, however he refrained. Not that I don't understand why I thought with a little smirk of my own, before I turned to the blond White Dragon Slayer beside me.

"Sting, you're a Guild Master, shouldn't you sort this?" I asked him. Sting gulped and rubbed the back of his head.

"I guess I could… er… mediate… but, I'm not really Master of these wizards so… it's not my call" he stated unsurely. I smiled at his hesitancy.

"Really, sure ya aren't too scared?" I laughed, much to Sting's annoyance. The blond shrugged at me.

"Course I'm not scared. Anyways, I'm sure they can handle it" he replied, gesturing over to Erza and Gray. I nodded in agreement.

"Yeah" I said in an upbeat tone, before Lucy interrupted.

"It looks like they've already come to an agreement" she observed, before pinching the bridge of her nose, "And why am I not surprised it comes to this?" I frowned and looked to the quarrelling group.

"Okay then, if you really want to prove that Erza Scarlet's assistance was not needed, how about you and I have a little test of strength" Haruki declared, a wicked smile on his face, as he lowered his sunglasses and looked at Gray over the top of the lenses. I didn't even need to see the smile on Gray's face to know he was already going to agree; I would have agreed to that offer too.

/

Magnolia, Summer Time,

Year X792

General Perspective

Natsu, Sting, and many others in the guild watched as Gray and Haruki stared each other off. "You're on" Gray stated, openly agreeing to the blond teen's suggestion. "What's the challenge?" he added with a tone of confidence. Haruki smiled wickedly at this question.

"Simple, we'll have a magic shoot off. The first one to back down loses, or the first one to incapacitate the other wins. Whichever comes first" the teen proposed. Gray nodded in agreement.

"Sound's fair, should we take this outside?" he asked. Haruki shook his head.

"No need, in here will be fine. Any damage to objects other than the opponent Mage will amount in negative points, alright?" he asked. Again, Gray nodded.

"Fine" he said. Kenji looked to his grandson for a moment, before looking back at Gray.

"I'll act as witness, and will explain this to the family if need be" he declared, "Master Eucliffe…" he looked up towards where Sting stood with Natsu and Lucy, "Could you act as referee, alongside me?" he asked. Sting shrugged.

"That'll make it fair I suppose" he replied, before picking his way over to the quarrelling group. Once Sting was stood beside the older sword-wielding man, Haruki spoke up once more. Both he, and Gray, had move a short distance away from where they had been, into a clearer area, around which many wizards had gathered to observe. "Gray Fullbuster, for the sake of formality, do you accept my challenge?" he said, extending his arm out for Gray to shake his hand. Gray looked at the outstretched appendage for a moment, before shaking Haruki's hand.

"Yes, I do" he said in a dulled tone.

Nodding at the handshake, Kenji raised his voice. "You have agreed, now for the rules. You will each stand five paces from each other, then, on the count of three, you may begin your shoot-out. First to be incapacitated, or to surrender loses. Any physical damage as a result of this duel may not be blamed on the Zollzero family, however spells designed to kill, and any use of magic which results in death, will have wider reaching consequences" the old man explained, his gaze particularly focusing on Haruki as he said this. Satisfied with the rules, Haruki and Gray nodded, before they began arranged themselves the required distance away. Content that they were in position, Kenji smiled. "Alright, you may begin in one…" he began counting, "Two… Three!"

As soon as the last number was called, both Gray and Haruki were in motion. The Ice Mage immediately formed his Maker stance, magic flowing around his person, whilst Haruki reached into his black suit-jacket, producing two black twin revolvers. Although Gray was fast, the blond teen was by far faster, the barrels of his guns trained onto the Ice Mage before he could even begin to cast a spell. "You should've thought about this before you agreed" Haruki mused, "Because there ain't no one who's a faster draw than me!"

With those words the teen unloaded a full barrage of magical bullets from each of his guns. Gray looked in shock as the attack rained painful shots down upon him, however he refused to give in. "Ice Make; Skin" he called out, his magic activating as the first few attacks struck his person. Haruki raised an eyebrow; he was surprised that Gray was even able to move. As Gray's spell took effect, magical ice began to creep over his body, forming a thin crust over the top of his clothes and bare skin. "Ha, your bullets don't do anything against my defence" he crowed as the remainder of Haruki's attack failed to strike at Gray. The Guns Mage smirked.

"An interesting defence, however… I'm by no means done, I've still got some ammo left" he said, before aiming his guns once more at Gray. Before he could unload another attack, however Gray reacted.

"I'm not gonna let you take another shot. Ice Make; Bullets" Gray shouted, before he swiped his arm in the air in front of him, a line of icy spheres forming which then flung themselves at Haruki. The teen gave a momentary look of surprise, before he realised that the attack was not directly aimed at him; then he guns were both tore from his hands by the force of the Ice Mage's projectiles. "Ha, what you gonna do now without your guns?" Gray asked cockily, as Haruki's weapons were now outside of his reach. The teen gave a momentarily worried expression; however, this was soon replaced by a grin.

"Oh, what ever will I do… I'm ever so useless without my guns" he whined in a sarcastic, mock-defeated tone. Gray was almost going to bite back at the tone of the teens statement, before his eyes suddenly shot wide as pain erupted forth from his thigh.

"What the-?" he gasped in surprise, before looking down to see nothing there except a faint magical glow that soon faded into nothingness. "What did you do?" he questioned the teen, who was now standing with one finger pointed at the Ice Mage.

"Ha ha, what indeed?" he replied with a giggle. Gray gritted his teeth at the spike of pain, however it passed as quickly as it had arrived. The slight tingly feeling that the spell left in its wake was vaguely familiar.

"I think I've seen that Magic before…" the Ice Mage muttered. Haruki raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I'd imagine you have" he smirked, "About three years ago now… or should that be ten?" he added with a wry smile. Gray furrowed his brows for a moment, before realisation dawned.

"Ah, yeah. Hades used it when we fought him!" he declared loudly. This earned a few murmurs of recognition from the other wizards present who also had gone up against the dark wizard. "It's… Bullet Magic, right?" he asked after a moment. Haruki grinned and nodded, clapping his hands; the action was a little sarcastic.

"Yes, well done" he stated, "This is indeed Bullet Magic. Guns Magic is only a hobby of mine, this is my real power" he declared, before pointing his fingers into L-shapes at Gray, "And now that you've finally realised that, I think I'm gonna finish this" Haruki added with a final tone.

Gray frowned. "That spell hurts, but it won't be enough to beat me" he replied confidently.

Haruki raised an eyebrow. "Sure?" he asked, "Or is that just based on your limited experience?" he questioned.

Gray gaped at the comment from the younger teen. "Limited experience? I'm OLDER than you!" the dark-haired man barked. Haruki laughed.

"So?" he responded cockily, "Experience isn't just based on age… for example, I bet you've not seen Bullet Magic like this" he declared, before firing off a sphere of energy from each of his hands. Gray prepared to block the attacks, however before his Ice Magic could even activate, the spheres exploded, sending hundreds of tiny spheres raining down onto the Ice Mage, each delivering a tiny localised pain, like a thousand needles all poking at him from every direction. Haruki continued grinning, whilst he folded his arms, "That was my Scatter Shot. I don't just have plain old attacks, but also loads of different types of ammo. You'd best just give up now, because trust me your Ice Magic is not gonna hold out against my power" the teen suggested. Gray rallied at that statement.

Still gritting his teeth a little, the raven-haired Mage prepared for a spell. "You little… I'm not gonna let the guild down!" Gray declared, before an icy mist began rising from his person, "Ice Make; Ca-" he didn't even get to use his next attack, as suddenly Gray fell to the ground unconscious. Haruki smiled as he lowered his outstretched arm, before blowing his fingers in triumph like he would the barrel of a gun.

"Knock Out Shot" he said to Gray's unconscious form, before looking to Kenji and Sting.

"If Gray Fullbuster does not wake up in the next few seconds, you will be victorious, Haruki" the old man stated. Sting pouted; although he had wanted Gray to win, he couldn't argue with the statement. Those were the rules after all.

After a few seconds, when Gray did not awaken, Haruki was declared the victor, and it was left to Erza to haul the Ice Mage off and hand in the additional amount of money that had started this whole argument off anyways.

With the issue dealt with, Sting re-joined Natsu and Lucy, and Happy soon floated over. "Well… that was anticlimactic" the exceed stated. Natsu nodded.

"Yeah, that kid was strong though. I could smell his magic as soon as he fired that first shot" the Fire Dragon Slayer added on. Sting shrugged.

"Admittedly, Gray probably shouldn't have picked on them" the blond stated, "Although, I did think perhaps knocking him out might've been a bit excessive" he added with a shrug. Natsu smiled.

"So, you were on our side" he chuckled. Sting frowned.

"What side did you think I'd take?" he replied. Lucy watched the two for a moment, before sighing.

"Weren't you two gonna go on a job or something?" she reminded them. Sting and Natsu both went wide eyed with realisation.

"Oh right… we should probably be going, or else we won't get back until really late" Natsu stated. Sting nodded.

"Yeah. Let's go" he said, gesturing for them both to leave. Happy followed behind them, making an eyeroll at Lucy, before landing on Natsu's head to ride on him for the journey.

/

Forest in Fiore, Summer Time,

Year X792

Sting Eucliffe

I threw myself to the right, Natsu leaping up and being supported by Happy, who held him aloft in the air. "Thanks, little buddy" the pinkette called out, before looking down at me, "Are you okay Sting?" he asked me with a considerate tone.

I smiled up at him and gave a thumbs-up. "Yeah, they just caught me off-guard" I replied, before looking to what 'they' were; a group of green, grinning forest Vulcans. The ape-like foes, some twenty in number, all looked at me, their eyes belying their violent intentions. I could already tell what they were thinking, and decided to leap away, narrowly evading the sudden assault of a few of the monkeys. As I jumped, I felt a heat in the air above me, quickly followed by a few loudly barked threats from Natsu, as he landed on two of the Vulcans with his body completely immolated in flames. I smirked at him, before engulfing my fists in light and spinning around to deliver two powerful blows to two of the Vulcans that had decided to pursue me. Natsu seemed to raise an eyebrow at my action. "I can't have you showing me up" I laughed at the Fire Dragon Slayer as the two Vulcan's I hit, and the two that Natsu had landed on top of, fell to the ground defeated.

Natsu grinned back at me, his eyes as fiery as his fists. "I guess you wanna compete over this, then?" he asked me, to which I nodded in reply. "Okay, whoever defeats the most wins" the pinkette called out, before smacking down a third Vulcan who had leaped foolishly at the Dragon Slayer when it thought he wouldn't expect it.

I laughed. "Fine then!" I replied in answer to Natsu's declaration, before charging up my magic power for an attack. "White Dragon Roar" I commanded with a deep bellow, sending white light spewing forth to strike at four of the apes at once. That's six to three I thought. Natsu watched me with interest, before smiling wickedly, his own magic being fuelled into an attack that floored another two of the apes, and then a follow-up assault that took out another three. Although I was competing with Natsu I couldn't help but watch as he flawlessly performed sequences of perfectly-executed attacks. As the last few Vulcan's fled from the scene, Happy came down from his lofty position, a smile on his face. "That's the last of them!" he declared. I looked to Natsu and nodded.

"Okay… so how many did you take down?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"Er…"

"You didn't keep count?" I frowned, Natsu smiled sheepishly. However happy quickly intervened.

"I was counting from above, since I figured you wouldn't be able to Natsu" the exceed sighed, before looking to me, "It looked to me like he took down thirteen, and you took out fifteen" he added. I smiled.

"I counted fifteen too, so that's probably correct" I concurred, folding my arms smugly. Natsu pouted.

"Show off…" he said with puffed-up cheeks. I laughed at his childishness.

"Don't act like that Natsu; it's pretty uncool" I commented, before looking to Happy, "If that's all of them though, then I guess we should get back to the Mayor's house and tell them the good news. We can then go back home" I stated. The exceed nodded in agreement with me, whilst Natsu jumped over some branches, which had been felled in our little skirmish, and regrouped with us. "Okay, let's go then" he said friendlily, his pouting gone now, despite having lost that little game.

I smiled, "Yeah, although first… what do I get for winning that little competition?" I asked the other Dragon Slayer. Natsu seemed to give this some thought for a moment, before shrugging.

"Whatever, I can't really think of a prize or anything" he said honestly. I laughed.

"That's fine, I was only teasing. How about I get to pick the next job we do?" I offered, to which Natsu smiled brightly.

"Okay, I like the jobs you pick" he beamed, as we began to set off back to the house of the person who had requested the job. I tried not to take Natsu's words too much to heart; especially since I was trying desperately to be careful whilst Happy was around to not be too obvious.

After all, the worst thing right now would be for somebody to figure out what I'm up to. I need to get Natsu comfortable around me first… before I try anything… I thought to myself as we walked through the woods, if anyone does figure it out I'm pretty sure that Natsu'll become guarded around me, and then I'll never get to tell him… or ask him…

"Are you alright Sting, you seem a little distracted" Happy said to me as we walked. I almost jumped at the voice suddenly at my ear, however when I realised it was only the flying blue cat, I relaxed. At least I did a little bit.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just thinking" I stated. Happy nodded, before smiling.

"I guess you have a lot to think about as a Guild Master" he reasoned, "Sorry for bothering you" he added, before going off to fly back over to Natsu's shoulder. The pinkette was a little way in front of me now, and I realised that just my thinking about the possibility of getting caught had made me lag behind. Shaking my head, I smiled, more to motivate myself than for anything else. Come on, there's work to be done first… then my plans can come later… although… perhaps work and play can be mixed together a little I thought, before increasing my pace to catch up with Natsu.

After all, Natsu did say he liked the jobs I picked I grinned internally, as a new plan began forming in my mind.

End of Chapter 5

Chapter Hint; Dine and Smash