2: The Master Appears!

Naruto's First Job?

Lucy woke up feeling slightly sore from the previous day of being tossed around and running from the Fiore military. Thankfully for them, they had found a town between Magnolia and Hargeon to spend the night in. She opened her eyes and found her savior sleeping beside her. There had only been one room available, but oddly enough, she found she trusted both Natsu and Naruto more than she felt she should.

Natsu and Happy, she saw, were still conked out on the couch, the Dragon Slayer snoring loudly as the talking cat snoozed away on his head. Naruto himself was only half on the bed she occupied. He was on his knees, and sleeping with only his upper torso on the bed. She gave him a small smile, and decided to let him sleep a little more, though she scooted a little closer to him and clasped one of his hands in hers.

'Maybe,' she thought as she began to drift back to sleep, 'Maybe looking for Fairy Tail took me into a fairy tale.' The thought made her smile even more. 'My prince came for me, and with a flying white horse of all things.' Her eyes closed, feeling the warmth of his hand spreading through her own, and moving throughout her chest and body as she slept, wrapped in his cloak.

=Magnolia=

Several hours later that day after four the wizarding quartet in a larger town than Hargeon. Like the fishing village, Magnolia was a bustling town filled with more people than Naruto knew existed. Every street they passed by seemed to be filled with different merchants and magic shops. Natsu and Happy seemed eager to get to their destination while he and Lucy followed after the pair as quick as they could.

And soon, they came to a large building that sounded like a rowdy place, the words "Fairy Tail" set in yellow letters above the door.

"Wow," Lucy sighed in wonder, looking up at the Guild Hall, "It's so huge!"

Naruto nodded from his spot beside her, "It's bigger than my cabin back home," he said with as much wonder in his voice as she.

Natsu and Happy grinned and turned to them, "Welcome to Fairy Tail," Happy chirped as Natsu kicked the door in.

The inside of the Guild Hall was bustling with as much activity as the surrounding town. The hall was more like a bar than anything else as there were men and women alike sitting at tables either eating or drinking the day away as laughter and comradery was all around them.

"Hey, Mirajane, three beers over here, please!" One of the Guild members called out.

A girl in a red satin with pink trim and bows smiled at the man, "Coming right up," she said, as she came out from behind the bar with the order, passing by a man with a pompadour hair style, blowing smoke hearts at her.

"Hey, Mira, let's go on a date soon, okay?" The man said.

"Ah, don't be sneaky!" Said the man sitting next to him.

Mirajane only sighed and snapped her fingers, "You have a wife," she said, before transforming into a very large lady, "Don't you, Wakaba?" She asked, smiling.

Wakaba freaked, stumbling out of his chair, "Dwah! Don't transform into my wife, you know I hate it when ya do that!" He yelled, gaining laughter from the rest of the Guild.

Mirajane was letting her transformation magic drop just as the door was kicked open, revealing Natsu, and Happy. "WE'RE HOME!" Natsu roared manically.

"Home~!" Echoed Happy.

"Ah, Natsu, Happy," Mirajane smiled at the pair, "Welcome back!"

One of the Guild members waved to the duo, "You overdid it again, didn't ya?" He asked, laughing, just as Natsu lept at him, "I read all about the Hargeon incident in the newspa - GAH!" Natsu's foot slammed into his face as he sent the man crashing through a table.

"You bastard!" Natsu roared angrily, "That info about Salamander was bogus!"

Mirajance chuckled, "My...Now that Natsu's back, the Guild might be torn apart soon."

Wakaba gaped as Natsu's attack started a brawl as the man he kicked was sent bowling into another table, causing the occupant to toss him across the room. "It's already being torn apart!"

Naruto just gaped at the whole scene in front of him while Lucy just smiled, "Wow, so this is Fairy Tail," she said, stepping into the Guild, "I really made it!"

Naruto ducked as a beer mug sailed over his head, and stopped another from hitting Lucy in the back of the head, "This is way more wild then I thought it'd be," he said, watching as Natsu threw someone into a table, and proceeded to through another table into someone else.

As Lucy advanced under the blond's watchful gaze another wizard popped up, "Did someone say that Natsu's back?!" A man wearing nothing but boxer shorts yelled, spotting the Dragon Slayer across the room with someone in a headlock. "Hey, let's settle our fight from the last time, ya punk!"

Beside them, a young woman wearing a bikini top turned to the man, taking in his state of undress, "Grey...have you been walking around the Guild like that?"

Grey looked down at himself, and paled, "Ah, man, what happened to my clothes!?"

Naruto frowned as he came up next to Lucy, "Are you sure this is the right place?" He asked as the woman that had spoken to the streaker picked up a barrel of alcohol and drank from it directly. Even Lucy had to gawk at that.

"HEY! Natsu, fight me!" Grey yelled.

"Not until you put some clothes on!" Natsu yelled back.

Lucy cringed as a barrel came flying out of nowhere and struck Grey in the body. "Yeah...I'm pretty sure this is the right place...I think?"

A shadow passed over the two of them as a large brute of a man observed the chaos, "What a racket." He growled, Yapping in the middle of the day...you're not a bunch of kids you know?" He growled, and then yelled out, "So fight with your fists to show your manliness!"

Naruto sweat dropped, "So it all comes down to fighting after all, huh?" He asked just as Natsu and Grey sent the man flying, "Oh, man, he got owned!" He said, his jaw dropping.

Lucy nearly laughed as she spotted another person aside from Mirajane she recognized. "Ah, that's Loki, the top ranked 'Mage you want as your boyfriend'!"

Naruto hit the floor, "There's a ranking?" He said, quickly hopping back to his feet, looking at his fellow blonde, "Where do I rank?"

Lucy giggled, "You haven't been around long enough to get an article in Sorcerer Weekly," she said, then paled, "Look - "

CLONG

"- out...Oh, my gosh, are you okay, Naruto?" She asked as Naruto peeled a metal pan from his head.

Naruto's left eye was twitching violently, "Yeah, I'm all good, Lucy...'scuse me for a minute." He turned about with the pan in his hands, and roared, "ALRIGHT, WHICH ONE OF YOU THREW THAT!?"

"Yo, Naruto, come and join the fun!" Natsu yelled, holding up Grey's boxers.

"Gimme back my boxers, ya jerk!"

Naruto ignored it and hopped up on a table, then jumped into the fray, "Y'all asked for it!" He yelled and joined in the brawl.

Lucy groaned and sank to the floor. "What's with this place?" She said as tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, "None of them are normal..."

"Oh, are you a newcomer?" A soft voice said from above her.

She looked up to see the white-haired girl from her favorite magazine, "M-Mirajane!" She squealed, "The real one! Ugh..." she stopped herself when she saw Naruto punch someone square in the nose, and receive a hard knock in the chin, "Naruto!" She squeaked, turning to Mirajane, "Shouldn't we stop this?"

Mirajane only giggled, "This happens all the time," she said, before a bottle came whizzing out of nowhere and knocked her in the head, toppling her over, "Oh, dear..."

"AH! Miss Mirajane!" Lucy yelped, dropping beside her, but Mirajane just popped right back up despite the blood on her head.

"Besides, it's kind of fun like this, isn't it?" She asked pleasantly.

"It's crazy!" Lucy yelled just as a naked Grey smashed into a table beside them.

He looked at her while the girl covered her eyes, "Excuse me, Miss, but could I borrow your underwear?"

"AS IF!" Lucy yelled, about to deck the guy before a frying pan slammed into his face, courtesy of Naruto.

"Hands off Lucy, ya frosty pervert!" Naruto roared, and was decked by the big guy from before.

"Real men fight with their fists, Newbie!" He yelled before Natsu came in and round house kicked him in the jaw.

"I thought I told you to butt out!" The pinkette roared.

The woman that had been drinking from a barrel groaned, "I can't even enjoy a drink with all of this noise," she said, pulling out a card from her pocket, "Alright, you guys, it's time to end this!" She charged the card with magic, prompting the others to do the same.

Lucy yelped and went to Naruto as the blond lay sprawled out from where he'd landed. "They're really gonna use magic in here!?"

Mirajane finally looked slightly worried, "This is getting a little too intense for my liking."

"Ya think!?" Lucy yelled, trying to rouse Naruto, "Oh, come on, Naruto, don't cop out on me now!"

"B-b-b-buttermilk...biscuits...hrk..." he mumbled, little stars dancing in his eyes.

"This is no time to think about food!" Lucy wailed, shaking him wildly as all of the magic was about to be unleashed. But just before Lucy thought that all hell was about to break loose, a gigantic foot slammed into the floor.

"That is enough!" Roared a loud voice, and Lucy found herself looking up at the shadowy figure of a giant, "Cut it out, you fools!"

Lucy gaped as she clung to the blond boy, "H-he's humongous!" She trembled as everyone stopped what they were doing, and started cleaning up and going back to their food and drinks. Naruto finally came awake to find Lucy clinging to him, and frowned.

"Hey, Lucy, what happened to..." he looked up at the giant, and sweated slightly, "Oh...big trouble..."

The only one that hadn't gone about their business was Natsu, who was grinning like mad. "Dahahaha, oh man, what a bunch'a wimps!" He laughed, "Looks like I win this -GAH!"

The giant stepped on him, "That's enough out of you, Natsu," the giant commented, and looked down at Mirajane, "Sorry I didn't stop them sooner, Mira."

Mirajane just smiled and shook her head, "It's no problem, Master, I just didn't know you were still here."

"Master?!" Naruto and Lucy said in surprise.

This drew the giants attention, "Well, well, what do we have here?" He said, looking them over, "Some new recruits?"

The two blondes nodded mutely, and the monster began to shrink. Soon, much to their amazement, a man not much bigger than Happy was standing in front of them, "Nice to meet the both of you!"

"He's..." Naruto said, his jaw slack.

"T-Tiny!" Lucy finished for him.

The tiny old man jumped up onto the upper railing, slamming into it by mistake before he pulled himself up with slight embarrassment. He looked down at the Guild members with a stern gaze, and produced a stack of papers from his coat, "You idiots have done it again!" He yelled, "Look at all these complaints I've gotten from the Magic Council!"

"Council?" Naruto asked, looking at Lucy.

"It's an organization that manages the Magical Guilds," she explained as the Guild Master started to speak.

"First up is you Gray!" He said, addressing the young man that now had his boxers back, thank goodness.

"What did I do? Gray asked.

The short old man harumphed, "Well, for starters, good job on sweeping out that smuggling organization," he said, and the boy smiled at the praise, "But you walked around town naked afterward, and ran away after you stole some underwear that had been left out to dry!"

Gray scratched his cheek in embarrassment, "Well, it would've been worse if I was still naked, right?"

The big man that had clobbered Naruto gave the younger teen a look, "Then you shouldn't have been naked in the first place."

"Elfman!" The Master roared at the man, "You had a mission to escort a VIP but you assaulted him during the mission!"

Elfman looked embarrassed as well, "He said men are all about education, so..."

But the Master wasn't done. "Cana Alberona; drinking fifteen large barrels of premium alcohol, and then charging it to the council!" He said to the girl in the bikini top.

"Tch, they found out?" She grumbled.

"Loki," he looked down at the orange-haired heartthrob, "Flirting with council member elder Reiji's granddaughter," he said, shaking his head in disappointment, "A certain talent agency charged us with damage compensation, too."

"Oops?"

"That's all you've got to say?!" The man roared, before looking down to where Natsu still lay, "And you, Natsu," He hung his head lowly, "You successfully destroyed the Devon Theif Family, but you also destroyed seven other houses belonging to innocent townsfolk, and leveled a historical clock tower in Tully village. You burned down a church in Freesia, damaging parts of Lupus castle. Nazuna Ravine Observatory collapsed, and thus stopped its operations, and then you went and destroyed part of Hargeon port!"

Naruto frowned and got up from where he was sitting on the floor, "Hey, that wasn't his fault!" The blond yelled up, gaining the entire Guild's attention, "I was the one that destroyed that port, not Natsu!"

"And I was there, too!" Lucy pipped up, standing beside him, "I was kidnapped by slave traders and Natsu and Naruto came to rescue me. If it wasn't for them, me and a lot of other women would be in Bosco by now."

The master looked at them for a moment and then grinned. "Well, I see our new recruits are going to fit right in," he said, igniting the stack of papers in his hands and tossing them aside for Natsu to eat. "Listen up, my children. Forget about the fools on the Magic Council."

"Huh?" Naruto and Lucy blinked in surprise.

"The power to overcome reasoning is born from reasoning," the master said, looking at each of his Guild members, new and old, "Magic is not some miracle. When the 'spirit' flow within us, and the 'spirit' flow of nature connects they will form an embodiment for the first time." He looked down at Naruto and Lucy, "You will need a strong mentality, and a lot of concentration to do this, but pouring your soul into whatever you do is the magic." He grinned, holding out his hand, "If you keep worrying about the watchful eyes of the higher ups, then your magic will never improve, so do not fear the fools of the council." He took a deep breath, "DO WHATEVER YOU THINK IS RIGHT! THAT'S THE WAY OF FAIRY TAIL WIZARDS!"

Lucy and Naruto beamed as a great cheer rose up around the Guild hall. "Okay, maybe this place isn't all that bad," Naruto admitted, smiling at the girl beside him, "But...do they let people stay at the Guild?"

Lucy stiffened, "You know...I never thought of that." The girl frowned, tapping her finger to her chin, then looked at the boy with a tearful look, "Naruto...we don't have a place to stay!"

~FWING~

Later that evening, Naruto was looking at the job board alongside Natsu after getting his Guild mark on the back of his left shoulder. He had almost regretted his choice in where the mark went, because as soon as he took his armor off he got lots of catcalls from the ladies of Fairy Tail, not to mention Lucy had been looking at him strangely.

'Must have been the scars,' he thought nonchalantly, thinking about the two vertical marks on his shoulder blades, and noticed a job offer for a fairly large amount of money. "Huh, medical wizard needed," he muttered, taking the flyer.

Natsu looked at him, "Aw, come on, Naruto, Healing magic is pretty hard to come by, so how you gonna complete a job like that?"

Naruto frowned at him, "Natsu, the spell I used on you to cure your motion sickness was a healing spell!" He said, crossing his arms in front of his chest, "Besides, most of my magic is meant for healing others. I could even bring someone back from the border between worlds if I had to."

Natsu cocked an eyebrow at him, "But I thought you were a Celestial Wizard like Lucy?"

But the blond shook his head, "My brand of magic is Celestial magic, but it doesn't limit me to just Gate Keys, Natsu," he explained, "That's just the first tier of what I learned."

Overhearing him, Lucy came over to listen, "So, I could learn your kind of magic?"

Naruto shrugged, "I don't see why not. Some of the spells are pretty simple, but others like my Judgement spell take a lot of magical energy, and it's not even my most powerful spell."

Natsu nodded, "I think I get it," he said, "So your Celestial spirits are the weakest form of magic!"

'He didn't get it at all!' Naruto and Lucy frowned. "Look, Natsu," Naruto said, "My Gate Keys are what allowed me to learn the more powerful spells in my arsenal, because I learned Celestial magic. You know, the magic used by angels?"

"Wow, really?" Natsu asked, smiling, while Lucy looked shocked.

"You can learn an angel's magic?!" The girl asked.

Naruto nodded to the girl, smiling, "Yeah, if you know how to get into the Celestial Spirit World," he said, "Using your Gate Keys to do it may be taboo, but there're other ways to get there. Granny used a summoning circle to call an angel to help teach me my magic after I'd grown strong enough." He said, smiling at the blonde girl, and patting her on the head, making her blush, "When you've gotten strong enough, I'll gladly teach you how to do it, since I already know most of the spells they use."

Lucy giggled and brushed his hand away, "Hey, cut it out, you'll mess up my hair!" But Naruto kept at it until he decided to take the job. Natsu was still looking for a job when he spoke with Mirajane about the job, and was about to set off.

"This shouldn't take very long," Naruto smiled as Lucy followed him to the door, "While I'm gone, you can focus on finding a place to stay, and maybe put in a good word for me, too?"

Lucy smiled at him, "You know, since you'll eventually be teaching me, how about I find us an apartment for both of us?" She asked, a small blush on her cheeks, "I mean it'd be really convenient, and that way we could help each other out."

Naruto grinned, none the wiser to the hidden meaning of her statement, "As long as you don't mind sharing an apartment with me, then I can't wait." He said, and turned toward the door, "I'll be back in a few days, a week, tops."

"Can you find your way?" Lucy asked in concern, "I mean, you're not from the mainlands, so - "

Naruto grinned again, holding up his Gate Keys, "Pegasus knows his way around the area, and I can always use Vulpecula's Key to gather information," he said, turning to face her fully, "I'll be fine, Lu, really."

The girl nodded, and gave her a small wave, "Alright, then, just so long as your safe on the road, and hurry back, 'kay?"

"It's a promise," Naruto gave her a wave of his own and held out his Key, "Open, Gate of the Winged Horse; Pegasus!"

Lucy watched with a wide smile on her face as Naruto sprang onto Pegasus' back, and took to the skies. Naruto never got tired of flying on Pegasus, and the winged horse was more than happy to take passengers. "Where do a take you, my master?" Pegasus questioned his rider.

Naruto grinned, "Follow the horizon, Pegasus, to the city built on Lake Sinoa."

"The city of hope," the Celestial Spirit whinnied, "Luin."

Back on the ground, Lucy had finally lost sight of the boy that was quickly becoming a focal point in her life. Sighing, she turned back to the Guild, and nearly ran into Natsu as he marched out.

"Hey," she said to Happy as he fluttered by, "Where are you guys off to?"

Happy landed on her shoulder, "A friend of ours is missing, so Natsu's gonna go and find him," the little blue cat said.

Lucy smiled, "Need any help?"

=x=

Hours later, as the night began to fade into day, Pegasus touched down at the edge of a large lake dotted with several smaller islands. Naruto swung from his back, and patted his neck, "Thanks, Pegasus, I owe you for getting me here so fast."

Pegasus dipped his head, "Think nothing of it," he said tiredly, "Now, I'm afraid I must leave you, my master. Call upon me when you need to return." And with that, the Spirit disappeared.

Naruto sighed and headed for the lake, noting that he could see lights on the water. Assuming it was Luin, he searched for a bridge to take him across. He found it...but instead of a stable bridge, Naruto found an rickety, broken down plank bridge. Frowning, Naruto hurriedly crossed to the other side on the balls of his feet, treading lightly so he wouldn't fall through.

There was also a smell in the air that made his nose burn. Sweet, overpowering and rising from the water. He looked down as he ran, and saw that the water had an oily residue gliding across the surface. This made him frown. 'Is the water toxic?'

A few minutes of running, Naruto touched down on the other side, expecting to find the lovely little village Pegasus had boasted about, but instead, he found ruins. It had been a decent sized little village at one time, but now he only saw that the homes, and markets were in shambles. The streets were littered with debris, and there were weeds growing all around.

"It feels so...lonely here," the blond said, frowning, trying to sense any signs of life, "Is the place deserted or something?"

"Hello?" Called an aged voice as one of the homes creaked open. It revealed an old man in tattered rags, and worn shoes. His beard and hair were in disarray, and greasy from going without bathing. Upon spotting the young blonde, the old man frowned, "Please, if you're here to torment us again, have mercy on us."

Naruto cocked his head, "Torment?" He said, taking the job flyer from his robe, "I'm not here for something like that. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, a Fairy Tail wizard."

Hearing this, the old man's eyes lit up with what could only be hope, "Oh, thank god, you have no idea how long we've been trying to get help for out village!" He said, falling to his knees. Naruto rushed to him to make sure he was alright, but the man waved him off, "Please, don't worry about me, you must help our children!"

Naruto frowned, "I'm here to help everyone," the blonde growled, disliking the situation more and more, "Now please, tell me what's going on?"

The man nodded, "My name is Pietro Alverez, and I'm, well I used to be the mayor of this village," he said, frowning, "But now it's all I can do to keep what people that are left alive." He hung his head, "Two years ago, a horde of bandits moved into the area, and demanded that we leave them the town. We refused, and ever since then, they've been harassing us, and keeping us from gathering food, or even leaving to trade. And then, this last year, they poisoned our beautiful lake! All of our children are succumbing to the toxins in the water, even when we try to boil it out to keep it clean, but it only slows the process, making them suffer!"

"All of my people are starving to death." He went on, "We can't even grow our own food here because the water kills off any of the seeds we plant, and what food we do get isn't enough to sustain us." His eyes filled with tears, "And one of our young ones is nearly in the final stages of poisoning. My granddaughter, Nina!"

Naruto stood, taking the man with him, "Take me to the center of town," the blonde growled, rage evident in his voice, "Now!"

"R-right, Sir," he stammered, leading the young wizard through the village. As they walked, Naruto noticed others looking out their doors and window at him with fear and apprehension.

"Your granddaughter," Naruto said calmly, "How old is she?"

"She will be five soon," Pietro mumbled, "I can only hope that we will be able to celebrate it." He stopped suddenly, and turned to the young man, "This is the center of Luin."

Naruto smiled at the man, "I promise that you'll get to see Nina grow older," he said, and knelt to the ground, clasping his hands together. Pietro wondered what the young man was doing for a moment, but kept himself quiet. Then he noticed that there was a light, white sheen around him, and that his cloak began to flutter, even though there was no breeze. And then his hair began to change from his sun-kissed blond to a shining pure white.

"Come forth, O illumination of purity," the white light spread from his hair to the rest of his body, "Strands of tranquility, give name to your miraculous light," the light spread into the ground, and out into the water, "Arise, O light of life," A pure white magical array appeared above the village as the people began to come out to see the display of magic, "Rain down the heavenly light! Healing Circle!"

Pietro yelped as the circle above the village began raining down pillars of light throughout the village, one such pillar striking him, and draining him of his fatigue, and freeing his body of the poison in his system. He looked on as he felt himself healing, watching as the rest of the village was hit by the light of the spell, enveloping all of them in the warmth that rained down from the spell.

The people weren't the only ones affected by the spell, he noticed as he saw the waters around their village returning to their naturally clear state, the oily surface burning away from the light.

With a clap of his hands, Naruto's spell ended as the spell died out with the light of dawn replacing it. He stood, and faced Pietro, dusting off his hands, "That should do it," he grinned as his hair returned to its natural blond color. "The spell should have healed all of the sick and weak while turning the waters pure again."

"Grandpa?" Before Pietro could speak, the sound of a tiny voice caught his attention. When he and Naruto looked back down the street, it was to see a tiny child with red hair, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "What was that light?"

"Oh, my," the old man stumbled forward to scoop the girl up in his arms, "My little Nina, you're all better!"

Naruto grinned at the sight, watching as others came out of their homes, stunned that the effects of the poisoned water was gone. Pietro turned to him with the little girl in his arms, "How can we ever thank you?"

Naruto frowned then, "Don't thank me, yet, the job's not over," he said, growling, "Now, why don't you tell me where these bandits are all hiding out?"

Pietro gave the boy a smile, "They stick close to the forest around the lake to keep us in check," he said, pointing to another bridge, "Their camp's just that way."

A truly feral grin spread across the blond's lips, "Well, then I guess I should be polite and go say hello, shouldn't I?" He started off toward the bridge, "I'll bring back any supplies I can find while I'm at it. It shouldn't take long."

Pietro could only smile, "Give a knock or two for me!"

As Naruto crossed the bridge, he used a little bit of the magic he had left to restore the bridge as he walked, making it stable once more. He could already smell the stink of sweat and alcohol. From the look of things as he stepped back onto land the bandits were all still asleep. "This," he said, cracking his knuckles, "Is gonna be fun."

~Oh Yeah~

Meanwhile...

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu roared, hammering his flame-covered fist into the giant ape, sending the Vulcan into the wall of the cave. Natsu grinned in victory as Lucy and Happy looked on in amazement.

The Vulcan stayed where it was, stuck in the wall upside down while Lucy cautiously stepped forward, "Uh, Natsu, weren't you gonna find out what this thing what it did to Mister Macao?"

Natsu frowned, and looked at the beast, "Well, crap, I got too caught up in the fight and forgot," he said, palming his forehead.

Lucy looked at the Vulcan, seeing it's eyes rolled back into its head, "Well, he's out cold, so what do we do with it now?"

"Tie it up?" Happy suggested.

"That might work." Lucy said, smiling, but then saw that Vulcan's body was starting to break down, "Hey, what the - ?!"

Steam rose from the beast as it disintegrated, "What's going on?!" Natsu roared.

The Vulcan disappeared in a puff of steam, and revealed -

"Macao?!" Natsu yelled in disbelief.

The wall crumbled away, and Macao began to fall through the wall into the harsh mountain range. "Shit!" Natsu raced forward just as the man fell and grabbed a hold of his leg while Happy grabbed onto Natsu's leg.

"I can't hold out much longer," Happy squeaked, "My wings are about to disappear!"

Lucy ran in and grabbed onto Happy's tail just as his wings left him, "H-Heavy!"

"OWWIEEE!" Happy whined for his poor tail.

"Lucy!" Natsu grinned.

Lucy was about to go over the ledge when she felt a powerful arm go around her waist. She looked up to see Taurus smiling at her despite the blood leaking from his nose, "No moo-re worries."

"Ah, Taurus!" Lucy smiled at the fateful Bull.

The Bull Spirit gave a mighty pull, and hauled all of them back into the cave. A few moments of treating the man found that he had a massive wound on his right side, and was bleeding badly. "It looks like he put up a really big fight before the Vulcan got him," Happy said, noting his battered appearance.

Lucy was treating the man's wounds with the first aid kit, but what she had wasn't enough to stop the bleeding, "These wounds are way too serious to treat with just what we have," she said to the Dragon Slayer. "It's just too deep for me to treat. He wouldn't survive long enough to get proper help."

Natsu growled, and engulfed his fist in flames, and placed it against Macao's wound. "GWAAAH!" Macao came awake with a roar, and thrashed in pain.

"Natsu, what are you doing!?" Lucy screeched.

"Help me hold him down!" Natsu snapped, looking down at the injured man,"This is all we can do right now, so just bare with it Macao!"

Lucy nodded in understanding, and held down the man's shoulders while Natsu seared the wound closed. "Come on, Macao, don't you give up," Natsu said, "Romeo's waiting for you back home!"

Natsu removed his hand and Macao laid back, breathing heavily. "Gah...shit, what a shame..." he said tiredly, "I got...nineteen of the fuckers...Ugh, the twentieth one got me from behind..."

Natsu frantically hushed him, "I understand, so don't talk anymore, or you'll open up your wounds."

Watching the pair, Lucy was stunned at the news, 'He took on more than one of those things?' She thought, remembering the tough time Natsu had been given by just one of them, 'Why would he take on such a job by himself?!'

Macao looked around deliriously, "M-my son...how can I face my son after losing like this?"

Lucy smiled and reached out to place a hand over his head in a calming gesture, "He'll be proud that his papa can take on nineteen monsters by himself," she said, smiling at him, "I know my papa couldn't do that."

A few days later...

Romeo was sitting on a bench outside of the Guild hall when he spotted Natsu and Lucy carrying his father between them. The boy cried out and ran to him, hugging him around the middle sobbing and apologizing all the while.

Macao just held the boy tightly, "Sorry for worrying you, Romeo," he said, smiling at the boy.

Romeo shook his head, "It's okay...I'm a wizard's son, after all."

"Heh, next time one of those bullies tries to get to you," Macao smiled as he looked at his son, "Ask'em if their dads can take down nineteen monsters on their own."

Lucy hung back from the father and son as Natsu joined in, smiling and patting the little boy on the head. 'I wish my papa could be like him,' the girl thought sadly, looking at the Guild Hall, "I wonder if Naruto's back, yet."

No sooner had she said that than a gust of wind picked up, and the sound of hooves came to her ears. "Hey, Lucy!" Naruto's voice drifted to her ears. She turned and saw the young man dismounting from Pegasus' back, and taking a few large bags from his back as well. He grinned at her, hefting both sacks, "Guess what?"

"What?" She smiled as she moved up to him.

Naruto opened the bag, showing her tons of money inside, "I got the reward for the job, and then some!" He laughed, all those bandits had a lot of stuff the villagers offered to pay for. I tried to just give it to them, but they wouldn't take no for an answer!" He said, "We'll be able to find our own place now!"

Lucy started giggling, "You know something, Naruto?" She said, gaining the blond's attention in a confused look, "You're a real angel. "

Naruto rubbed his nose bashfully, "Well, maybe not yet."

That's chapter two, with a little deviation from Canon, but not much. No worries, we'll get the ball rolling soon!

Also, I need some ideas. Naruto's going to have a Holy weapon, and I'm debating whether it should be the Norse Spear, Gungnir, or the Fate/Stay version of Excalibur. Any ideas are welcome.

Review if you liked it!