3: The Holy Sword

In the Eastern part of the Fiore Kingdom lay the town of Magnolia. With a population well above sixty thousand people, it is a merchant city that has been prosperous since the Ancient era. After you go through the church, Chaldean Cathedral, in the middle of town, you will find the only magical guild in town: Fairy Tail.

Now, between Fairy Tail, and Magnolia's market district you would find a small apartment complex. This is the place two young wizards of Fairy Tail have come to call home.

"We've definitely found a great place to live," Lucy sighed as she stretched her arms above her head while enjoyed the hot bath she was in. "I can't believe we found such a great place so quickly, and close to the shopping centers, too." She said, climbing out of the tub to towel off. "The extra storage space even let's Naruto have his own bedroom."

She stepped out of the bathroom, knowing that Naruto was out on a walk through town, and headed for her room to get dressed, "Pure white walls," she said, smiling at their little home, "The scent of wood, a cute little old-fashioned fireplace, and it even has a cooking stove!" She giggled, thinking that she'd have to learn how to cook, "But most importantly - " She rounded the corner to the living room.

"Yo!" Natsu greeted with a mouthful of chips, while Happy was munching on a sardine.

"MY HOUSE!" Lucy roared, round housing the intruder. "WHY ARE YOU HERE?!"

Natsu popped up from the floor, "Well, 'cause Mira told us that you and Naruto got a new place..." he said, nursing his sore cheek. "What's the big deal?"

"She told you?!" Lucy said in disbelief, "That doesn't mean you can just barge in here whenever you want to!" She raged, poking Natsu in the nose, "Haven't you ever heard the phrase 'a hedge between keeps friendships green'? You lack a lot of morals, Natsu!"

Natsu frowned, "Hey, that hurts my feelings..."

"I'm the one being violated!" Lucy snarled, placing her hands on her hips, which also caused her towel to loosen. "What if I'd been naked or something?! The last thing I'd want is - "

The door slammed open, and Naruto barged in, "Lucy, I heard you screaming, and - " Lucy had turned around just as Naruto entered, and the loose towel around her fell just as Naruto came into the room.

The two blondes stared at each other for a long moment before Happy giggled, and both of them turned bright red. "DAAAH!"

"I'M SO SORRY!" Naruto rushed back out, before reappearing, "WAIT A MINUTE, NATSU! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"

Natsu was too preoccupied with staring at Lucy's backside to form an answer. 'If Gray's freaky strippin' habits are contagious, I can think of worse things.' The Dragon Slayer's inner pervert thought.

Lucy was close to tears, "WILL YOU GUYS GET OUT AND LEMME GET DRESSED!"

Five minutes later...

Naruto set a cup of tea in front of Natsu and Lucy respectively, trying to avoid his blonde roommate's gaze. "Jeez," the blond sighed as he poured himself a cup, "We haven't even been moved in a week, and things are already getting crazy, huh?" He said, casting a small glance to Lucy. The girl looked thoroughly embarrassed, and wouldn't meet his gaze, "Seriously, Natsu, what were you thinking just barging in here like that? We've only just moved in, and won't have any furniture until next week. I was lucky enough to get a bed that I liked since the stores are all booked up on delivery."

"We just came to visit," Natsu said, sipping his tea.

Lucy gave a huff and leaned on her hand, "We've got nothing for you to play with, so just drink your tea, and go home."

"You're so cruel," Natsu said.

"Aye," Happy commented.

Lucy glared at them, "How am I the cruel one I'm just asking you to leave after having a cup of tea, and you guys waltzed in here, dirtied up our living room, and saw me naked!?"

Natsu blushed a bit, "I didn't see anything."

"Like I'll believe that!" Lucy raged.

Natsu frowned, then brightened up, "Oh, yeah," he said, deciding to hurry up and change the subject, "Show me all of those Key Guys you have," he said, looking toward the other blond, "You, too, Naruto!"

'Nice save,' Naruto thought, hoping this would save him from Lucy's wrath for having seen a full frontal view, including a cute little mole on her -

"No!" Lucy said, "It'll consume a lot of my magical power," she said in a huff, looking offended, "And they're not 'Key Guys', they're called Celestial Spirits."

Happy looked up from his cup of milk, "How many Celestial Spirits do you two have contracts with?"

Lucy smiled, "I have six units, we count Celestial Spirits in units," she said, placing her keys on the table, "These Silver Keys are the ones you can buy in stores. I have Horologium, the clock. Crux, the Southern Cross, and Lyra, the lyre." She then placed her Golden Keys onto the table, "These Gold Keys are very rare Keys that open the gates of the ecliptic Zodiac." She said, smiling, "You've already met Taurus, the bull, and then there's Aquarius, the water bearer, and finally, I have Cancer, the giant crab."

"CRAB!" Both Happy and Natsu said excitedly, their mouths watering.

"Not that kind of crab, guys!" Naruto shouted.

Lucy frowned, "You can't eat him." She said, then realized something, "Oh, I still haven't formed a contract with Nicola, the Canis Minor, or the Vulpecula that you gave me, Naruto."

Naruto grinned, "A lot's happened," he said, shrugging, looking at their two guests, "why don't you show the guys how it's done?"

Lucy nodded, smiling, "Yeah, it's perfect timing," she said, rising, and taking the two Keys from her pocket, "And it'll show how we Celestial Wizards bond with our Spirits.

"Does it involve blood seals?" Happy asked.

Natsu, however, misheard him, "Butt Seals? That sounds painful."

Lucy's eye twitched as Naruto roared with laughter whilst thumping the table, "Why the sudden talk about butts...?" She wondered, shaking her head, "We don't need blood seals, or anything like that. Just watch, okay?" She said, smiling a little as she saw Naruto watching her.

"Who are you going to summon first?" The blond asked, getting himself under control.

Lucy smiled, holding up the first Key, "Well, if you don't mind, I think I'd like to summon Nicola first," she said, and the young man nodded. She held the Key out in front of her.

"I am one who connects the road to the Celestial Spirit World," she intoned as a golden light appeared around her, "Thou shalt respond to the calling and pass through the Gate!" A silver magic circle appeared. "Open, Gate of Canis Minor! Nicola!"

A white substance came from the circle, and formed. The creature that came looked to be the right species that Naruto had seen for that particular Key, and he couldn't help but smile. 'She's strong.'

"Don't feel too bad," Natsu said as he looked down at the carrot-nosed dog waving at him.

"It's not a failure!" Lucy shouted.

Naruto nodded, "She's right, this is what the dogs called from the Canis Minor Key all look like, even if some are different colors," the blond said, smiling as Lucy named the little fellow "Plue".

Lucy immediately got down to working out a contract with Plue. He was a friendly little guy that only wanted Mondays off. "Okay, contract's all done!" Lucy said, pleased with her new addition. "Now, let's see about the one you gave me, Naruto." She said, taking out the second Key.

Naruto frowned, "Gotta warn ya, Lucy, some of those Spirits can be a little unpleasant."

Lucy just shook her head, "You've met Aquarius, right?"

"Urk, good point...go ahead," Naruto grinned.

Lucy again performed the summoning ritual, "Open, Gate of the Little Fox, Vulpecula!" This time, there was a puff of smoke. As Naruto had expected, the Spirit wasn't what either Lucy or Natsu thought it would be. Instead of a Fox Spirit, Lucy now found herself looking at a little girl sitting on her knees in front of her. She looked normal, save for the fact that she had a big fluffy tail, and two cute little ears atop her head.

"Greetings, my master," the girl said, pleasantly, bowing, "My name is Kon. I'm very pleased to meet you!" She beamed.

Lucy was a little stunned, but got over it quickly, "Wow, you're so cute!" She said, and hugged both of her new Spirits, "It's so nice to meet both of you!"

Kon giggled happily, "Mistress," she said, wriggling free, "For my contract, you must know that I am slightly inexperienced, but I promise to do my best as a descendant of the legendary fox. I will do as you ask of me, whether it involve house work or battle."

"I thought the Vulpecula were mainly spies?" Lucy questioned, "At least that's what Naruto said."

Kon nodded her head, "It's true that we Foxes are good at stealth and infiltration, but we are also battle spirits. For example, I can turn myself invisible, but I can also control fire to some extent, and even levitate." To prove her point, she hopped off the ground, and hung in the air for a few moments with a few balls of flames circling around her until Natsu snapped one up. "AH! Don't eat my fire!"

"Not bad," Natsu gulped.

"Mu~!" Kon pouted, flattening her ears. But then they sprang up, "Pardon me, but did you say you know Master Naruot?" She asked of Lucy.

Lucy smiled and pointed at the blond teen in question, "Uh-huh, that's him right there."

"Yo!" Naruto gave a salute.

"Greetings," Kon said politely, "Lord Kurama has been waiting for you to summon him for quite a while now, Sir...he's actually quite aggravated..."

Naruto frowned, "Uh-oh, that's not good," he said, taking out his own Key, "Open, Gate of the Little Fox, Kurama!" There was a flash of red as the so-called Kurama appeared.

Like Kon, he had large, red fox ears on his head, but he looked far older than little Kon, with nine tails trashing about. His arms were crossed, and his face was contorted in a fierce frown. His clawed hands were tapping his fingers against his arms impatiently. "And just what the fuck took you so long?"

"Hey, watch the language, Kurama," he said, gesturing toward Lucy, "There's a lady present."

"And I don't give two shits," Kurama snarled loudly, "You sent me after that item you wanted months ago, and when I finally find it, you're no where to be found! I couldn't even summon myself to the island to give you a proper beating!"

"Sorry," Naruto flinched, "Truth is, I don't know how I got here either. And the job I sent you on just completely slipped my mind!" He rose from his seat, "So your really found it?"

Kurama growled, "Oh, I found it alright," he raised his fist as if to give the blond something, which he did. Naruto received a hard crack in the nose that sent him slamming into the wall, forming a crater. "That was for making me tote this thing around through the Spirit World for weeks, you blond blockhead!"

Lucy, Natsu, Kon and Happy were all clinging to each other as the red-haired Fox Spirit took his frustrations out on his master. "P-p-please don't break out walls," Lucy stammered, drawing the Spirit's attention, "We just moved in and - "

"Don't provoke him, Ma'am," Kon warned, "Lord Kurama's the most vicious Fox bound to the Key!"

"He's really scary," Happy said.

Naruto peeled himself off the wall, using a small amount of magic to repair the damage. "I'm really sorry, Kurama. I got totally sidetracked with getting stuck on the mainland!"

Kurama just sighed, and snapped his fingers, "You'd better appreciate this, you runt," he said, as a golden light shimmered in his hands, and a sheathed sword appeared. "This was not easy to get. If it wasn't so much fun, I'd've hit ya harder."

Naruto smiled, and took the sword from his claws, "Kurama, you don't know how much this means to me," the blond said, "Holy Swords are nearly impossible to find in the normal ways," he said, taking the red and blue scabbard from him, "And this one...it's Caliburn!"

"It's not the only one I've found," Kurama sighed, "There's another one someone out there, but the guy's got a Zodiac Spirit crawling around his home, so I couldn't risk going in after it."

Naruto looked up at him, "Was it Excalibur?"

Kurama shook his head, "No, it was different," the Spirit said, "It had a darker vibe to it than I thought Excalibur would. Plus, it was a black blade from what I could see. Dangerous, too, way more dangerous than that thing." He pointed his claw at Caliburn. "If I had to guess, I'd say it was the Peerless blade."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Lucy yelled, having had enough of being ignored. "What are you guys talking about? What's a Holy Sword?"

Kurama looked between both blondes, and sighed, "Look, brat, I'm going home." He said, "That sword drained a lot of my energy just having it near me. As for the other one, it's in a mansion belonging to some pompous prick named Everlue. You can explain everything to your girlfriend."

"She's not my - !" But his protests fell on deaf ears as Kurama disappeared.

Lucy felt a tug on her sleeve, and looked down at Kon, "I should be going, too, Mistress Lucy."

"But we haven't agreed to a contract, yet," she said, frowning.

Kon smiled at her whilst wagging her tail, "Oh, don't worry, Mistress, I'll happily come to your aid whenever or wherever you need me." She said, "And I'd consider it an honor to work with you since you have three of the Zodiac Spirits."

Lucy giggled, "Please, just call me Lucy," she said, smiling, "And I look forward to working with you, too, Kon."

The little Fox Spirit gave a short bow before disappearing.

Plue had gone as well, having high-tailed it when Kurama appeared, leaving only the four wizards left. Naruto grinned and sat back at the table, "Well, that was a nice house warming party?"

"I'll say," Natsu grinned, knocking his fists together, "Too bad I couldn't fight with that Kurama-guy, he looked strong!"

Lucy sighed, "I'd really prefer it if there weren't any fights inside the house, boys," she said as she took a seat, looking at the sword Naruto was holding, "So what's the story with these Holy Swords? And why are you so interested in finding them?"

Naruto held the sword up, "Well, for starters, Holy Swords are really powerful blades imbued with the blessings of divine beings like angels and gods." He said, "For a Celestial Wizard like me, having even one of them is like a Dragon Slayer having a pet dragon."

"That'd be so cool!" Natsu snorted.

"Anyway, having one is rare nowadays because a lot of them were destroyed a long time ago because they were capable of killing dragons, angels, and even gods," Naruto went on, "This one's fairly weak in comparison to the one I'm really looking for, pretty much a copy of the original, but it's powerful enough to get the job done."

Natsu sat back, thinking for a moment, "Say, didn't that Kurama-guy say that he'd found another sword like that?" He asked.

Lucy nodded, "Yeah, but he said it was being held by some guy named Everlue, and guarded by a Zodiac Spirit."

Natsu grinned and took out a job flyer from his vest, "Check this out. I picked this up because of the reward, but I think you'll wanna come with me on this one."

Lucy took the flyer, "Huh, Shirotsume town, that's close to here," she said, reading lower, and paused, "Naruto, this job's asking for a book from the collection of Duke Everlue!"

"What?!" Naruto reached over and read it for himself, "I can't believe it! My luck's never been this good!" He said, smiling, "And the money's good, too! Two hundred thousand!"

"Really!" Lucy grinned, "That's a hundred for each of us!"

"Right?" Natsu grinned, "And it just so happens that Everlue has a thing for pretty blonde maids." He said, grinning as Lucy's face fell, "Now, where do I know a blonde girl that'd look good in a maid outfit?"

Lucy yelped, "Whoa, no!" She said forming an X with her arms, "I am not dressing in some frilly maid outfit just to nab a book!"

"Plus, this guy's proven to be a pervert and a womanizer," Naruto said, crossing his arms, frowning at the Dragon Slayer, "I can't let Lucy go through something like that."

"But how else are we gonna get the book and your sword, Naruto?" Happy asked.

Naruto shrugged, "Easy, we'll just sneak in," he said, "Depending on what Spirit he has in his employ, Lucy wouldn't get very far before she was singled out and targeted because she's affiliated with three other Zodiac Spirits."

Lucy looked at the blond, "But we are going with them, right?"

Naruto smiled, "Of course," he grinned, "Getting a hold of another Holy Sword is totally worth it! Especially if it's the one Kurama says it is."

Natsu grinned right along with him, "Alright, then, let's get going!"

"Yeah!" Naruto, Lucy and Happy all yelled.

Meanwhile...

"Hey, Levy, are you looking for another job already?" Mirajane asked as she saw one of the teams standing by the job board.

The girl she had been addressing as a short, blue-haired girl in a yellow dress and hairband. "Yeah, but it looks like the job I wanted already got taken by someone else," she said, frowning, "Too bad, that Everlue job would've been easy money for us."

Mirajane smiled, "Oh, that one?" She said, "Natsu and Happy took it earlier, and were planning to ask Lucy and Naruto to go with them."

Levy sighed, "Too bad, I was thinking about that job the whole way back," she sighed in defeat.

"Levy, perhaps it's best that you didn't take that job," Makarov said from his usual spot from the bar, "That job...has become a little troublesome. You see, I just got in touch with the client, and the bounty has increased to ten times the original amount."

"What!?" Levy wailed, "Ah, we really missed out!"

"Why so much all of the sudden?" Mirajane asked.

Over at a table by the window sat Gray, smoking a cigarette, grinning as he heard the news, "Well, sounds like things are getting interesting."

Naruto and Lucy set out on their first job together to infiltrate the Everlue mansion, and to steal a sword of greater power than Caliburn.

Short chapter, but I just wanted to do the introduction for this little arc, plus the bit at the beginning was fun to write as well. Look forward to Naruto's second weapon, the Spear Sword, Durandal!

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