CHAPTER 5
Sasuke took a seat at a table. He was tired. He'd been on a couple of late missions recently and they were really taking a toll. He knew he shouldn't be doing them, but he had a reputation to set straight. The guild caused a lot of damage, and he generally didn't.
When he did it was away from civilisation anyway. So he had to show not all the members caused damage. Not many people could relate to this, but Erza could. By coincidence, the red-haired girl was headed his way right now. She tutted.
"Sasuke, you're a wreck."
"What?" He yawned. "No, I'm fine."
She shook her head. "No, you aren't. Look, you can barely keep your head up."
"But, I need to..." He trailed off as he yawned again. "look, I'm ok."
Erza didn't say anything, she instead punched him across the jaw. Sasuke's head hit the table.
"See, you should be able to take that. You need sleep."
Sasuke didn't argue. He got up and started to walk out of the guild, eyeing the request board. But Erza knew him too well.
"I know what you're thinking. Come on."
"But..."
"No." She sent him a glare.
"Master, I'm taking Sasuke to his house." She called.
The Master gave her a questioning look, but said nothing. Most people didn't argue with Erza. As they walked they spotted Natsu and Gray fighting.
Erza went to stop them, but Sasuke interfered.
"Let them fight it out."
They walked for a bit more.
"So where did you come from?"
Erza glowered. She did that whenever someone asked her about her past. She tried to forget it, to shut it off. She bottled it up.
"You know you should tell someone. It will end up breaking you, no matter how strong you are, or pretend to be."
Erza didn't respond to that. She just looked up at the clear blue sky. They didn't say anything for a while.
"So what about you?"
Sasuke scowled. He didn't to tell her, but he couldn't be a hypocrite.
"My family are dead."
Erza was taken aback. But she spoke, suprisingly gentle.
"How did it happen?"
"My brother. He slaughtered my clan, all of them. I am the last one left, apart from him."
Sasuke expected her to try to comfort him, but she didn't. She looked at him in the eye.
"I am sorry."
Sasuke saw something in her eyes. It was understanding. She didn't say anything else.
"I was imprisioned in the Tower of Heaven. I was beaten and made to work. I unlocked my magic and escaped."
She didn't tell him about Jellal. She hadn't told anyone about Jellal.
Sasuke shook his head.
"You've experienced enough suffering for a lifetime."
Erza suprisingly smiled. A small smile, but a smile.
"I could say the same about you."
They got to Sasuke's house eventually. Sasuke sat at a table.
"Tea?"
"Yes please."
Sasuke made some tea. Erza pulled a chair and sat. Sasuke prepared teacups and poured tea. Erza took a gulp of tea and wiped her mouth. They had a brief conversation and finished their tea.
"So, you want to spar?" Asked Sasuke, sliding his sword off his back.
"Why?"
"Well, you're a sword user right?"
"Yes."
"Well, I'm the only other one in the guild, and I haven't seen you use your sword."
"But-"
"Come on, follow me."
They walked out into Sasuke's garden, which was basically a field with a couple of massive trees and a pond.
"Ready?"
Erza nodded. Then she struck, slicing at Sasuke's belly. Both of their blades were dulled with magic, so they wouldn't get cut. Sasuke parried the blade and jabbed with his sword.
Erza jumped back and frantically knocked the Sasuke's sword away. Erza cut down, so Sasuke blocked it and flicked Erza's blade to the side. Erza tried to stay on the offensive, launching a front kick and slashing wide,but Sasuke stepped out of range, touched his blade to Erza's and twisted.
Her sword skidded across the ground. However Erza concentrated, and yellow energy appeared in her hands. It formed into a sword shape. The energy flickered, turning into two swords then back into energy. Eventually it solidified into two swords which Erza gripped. Sasuke was impressed. She could manipulate her magic, creating two swords quickly.
She swiped and cut, and Sasuke parried and blocked. He kicked one of her swords away, the blade spiralling into the ground. He gathered chakra around his hand, catching her blade.
Erza became faster and faster so Sasuke hopped onto a nearby plum flower poles, tree stumps climbing higher and higher. Sasuke jumped on to taller and taller stumps, but as they got taller, they got more unstable. Erza followed him up, keeping her balance.
Sasuke avoided the tip of Erza's blade and jumped onto the next one, feeling it wobble beneath his feet. Erza tried to follow, but her movements were too stiff and she fell, but Sasuke caught her wrist, leaving her dangling over a deep pond of water. She nodded her thanks and started to pull herself up but Sasuke let go of her, dropping her into the pond below.
Sasuke nimbly descended, leaping from stump to stump, keeping his balance. He landed on the ground, where Erza greeted him with a scowl.
Sasuke smirked. "Maybe one day you'll give me a challenge."
After he said goodbye to Erza, Sasuke climbed onto the sofa and passed out.
Sasuke rubbed his eyes. It was morning, and rays of orange sunlight were breaking through the horizon. He climbed off the sofa, made himself some breakfast. He finished it, but climbed back onto sofa and slept again. He woke and looked at the clock. 1 o'clock. Man, he'd overslept.
He sat up and heard a knock on the door. He got up and got changed and picked up his sword. He opened the door, pointing his sword at the person standing in the doorway.
His house was out of the way, so virtually no people came by the house. But the person in the doorway was none other than Erza Scarlet.
"Why are you here?" He asked.
"The Master asked me to check up on you, since you're normally at the guild early."
"I slept in."
They headed to the guild. Natsu sprung at Sasuke, yelling his usual challenge. Sasuke stepped to the side, revealing Erza behind him.
"Oh no."
Erza grabbed him and threw him into the wall. The boy whimpered. Gray laughed. Natsu jumped at him, hitting him across the jaw. Gray removed his top, chucking it across the room. The two punched and kicked each other. They broke apart, Natsu lighting up his fist and Gray pounding his fist into his palm. Erza walked up behind them and smacked them across the head.
They flew across the guild, hitting some of the other members. Within minutes a brawl had broken out. A glass bottle sailed across the across the room, and Sasuke grabbed a nearby girl, yanking her away from the path of the bottle. The girl, who had brown hair and was wearing a dress looked up at him.
"Thank you." She muttered.
Sasuke shook his head. "Whatever."
"Um, can you let go of me please?"
Sasuke realised that he was still holding her by the top of her dress.
"Sorry." He let go of her, but after he did, his fingers surged and a small shock ran through his hand.
The girl walked off, sitting down at a nearby table. What was that he'd felt? He didn't think the girl had decided on a discipline. It couldn't of been her channelling any magic.
Chakra was generally more volatile, and could spark up if you had the potential but didn't know how to control it. He walked over to the girl.
"What's your name?" He asked.
"Cana Alberona."
"Have you thought about what magic you'd use?"
"Uh, Card Magic?"
Sasuke frowned. Card Magic was quite simple, and had it's limitations.
"Come on." He grabbed her wrist and started to pull her outside the guild, ignoring her protests. Once they were out of the guild, Sasuke began to speak.
"I sense chakra potential in you. You might be able to use it. You know the basic ideas behind chakra right?"
Cana nodded. "I've read books."
"Well you can use it. Would you want too? Because I wouldn't want to see you waste your potential, particularly because there aren't any other chakra users apart from me."
Cana thought about it. She wanted to get strong, become S-class so her Father would notice her. From what Sasuke said, it would be better than Card Magic. She nodded.
"Yes, I would. But how would I learn? Would you teach me?
"No."
"Why?"
"Because you aren't worth it. I might help you sometimes but I don't know if you're worth the effort."
He saw a hint of fear in her eyes, but she swallowed and nodded.
"I'm ready."
Cana collasped onto the ground, breathing hard. Sasuke's training was tough, and slightly scary. She had been pushed hard for months. Sasuke walked up to her. She managed to throw her guard up, but the teen's kick caught her and sent her spinning away. She jumped up and threw up her guard again. Sasuke came at her, knocking her hands to the side and lashed out with another kick.
Cana managed to avoid it, retaliating with a kick of her own. Sasuke blocked it with a bent arm and stepped back. Cana advanced, alternating punches, kicks, knees and elbows. Sasuke however, blocked them all with ease. Cana managed to catch him with an elbow. She tried to follow it up with a punch, but Sasuke threw her over his shoulder.
"That's it."
He handed here a leaf.
"As you know, chakra has different natures. This chakra leaf will show you your chakra nature. Just channel your chakra into it. The leaf will burn for fire, become wet for water, crumple for lightning, crumble for earth and split in half for wind."
Cana tried, but she couldn't. Sasuke nodded.
"I didn't think you'd be able to first try. The next stage of your training is to complete this exercise."
Within the next couple of days, Cana had managed to complete the exercise. Sasuke gave her a fresh leaf. Cana concentrated, and poured her chakra into the leaf, and it became wetter and wetter until it peeled apart due to the amount of moisture. Sasuke raised his eyebrows.
"Impressive."
Cana smiled at the praise.
"I have an idea." Sasuke said.
"What is it?"
"Well, you would be a supportive shinobi who can fight for herself."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, chakra of the water nature is quite defensive, and generally used by supportive shinobi. You could learn healing, and improve your offensive capabilities."
"Where would I learn healing?"
"You will have to find someone else or learn from a book. What do you think?"
"I would like that."
Sasuke was suprised. Over the past couple of months Cana had made amazing progress. She made picked up the basic principles very quickly, had acquired books on healing and even found a relative of an old medical ninja to teach her. She was progressing at a strong rate and eventually would become powerful.
Laxus opened the doors of the guild. He had been a couple of long jobs to get away from the guild and hadn't seen it in a while.
He had heard rumours about Fairy Tail on the streets, and not good ones either. He had dealt with the trash that started those rumours. They didn't deserve to talk about Fairy Tail anyway. He spied a black-haired Uchiha and sat down near him.
"Hey."
Sasuke scowled.
"Hey, that's the treatment I get after returning?"
Sasuke scowled harder.
"Ok, fine. You want to go on a job?"
Sasuke smirked. Laxus walked over to the board and picked out a job.
"This one looks ok. Rescue kidnapped kids from mansion. Try not to be detected. Minimum number of members:
"Three. Damn."
They only went on jobs by themselves, or sometimes together. Laxus scanned the guild. No one.
"How about Cana?" Sasuke said.
"What, that little girl? Nah."
"Yeah. She's gotten stronger."
"Have you been training her? Has Sasuke finally found a friend."
"No, shut up."
"Whatever. Anyway, the kid can come."
A couple of hours later, they had boarded a train and were on their way to the mansion. Sasuke sat in silence, while Cana chatted to Laxus. Eventually, the train grinded to a stop and they got out. They walked for a while until they got to the mansion. It was massive.
"I can see why they needed three of us." Cana quipped. Seeing Laxus's and Sasuke's stony faces, her smiled dropped. "Why do you guys look so serious?"
Sasuke activated his Sharingan. "Four floors. One basement. One attic. Entry points: Roof, one of the two gardens and third floor window. Plenty of security, but distributed inaccurately. Should be easy."
"Can you see the kids?" Cana asked.
"No, they must of been hidden using some special equipment. Anyway, everyone ready?"
Laxus smirked at Sasuke. "Race you."
He switched to his Lightning Form and began to race towards the garden. Sasuke dashed for the roof and Cana albeit with some protesting, started to climb the house. She used small wedges and ledges to pull herself up and managed to climb through the window.
She stalked through the corridors, sticking to the shadows, until she came across a staircase leading down. It was guarded by one man. How could she take him? She needed a distraction. She put her hand into the pouch on her waist, adjusting her comfortable brown clothes and drawing out a kunai.
She slid it across from behind the corner. It came to rest beside the man. He bent down to inspect it and Cana rushed out and kicked him between the legs. The man's eyes buldged but he went for the knife on his waist. However, Cana punched him across the jaw before he could use the weapon.
She hit him again, and again and again. She spun behind him and kicked the back of his leg, sending him sprawking onto the floor. Cana kicked him again and again before jumping up and slamming her heels into the back of his head.
She was still young, so her strikes didn't have the most power so she had to hit her targets multiple times. The man went limp, unconcious. Cana draped his arm over her shoulders and dumped him in a convenient chest sitting nearby.
She took the stairs and looked down the banister. There was a single guard. Sasuke had been right. The securuity wasn't good. Cana jumped over the banister, slamming her heels into the man's head and landing on top of him. He was groggy so Cana asked him a question.
"Where are the kids?"
The man didn't answer.
"Where are they?" She whispered, resting a kunai on his throat.
"Downstairs...Basement." He mumbled.
"Thanks." Cana chopped at his neck, knocking him out. She was glad he answered because she knew she couldn't kill him. Fairy Tail didn't kill. Most guilds in general didn't. She ran off avoiding the guards until she got to the first floor.
She took a long corridor, turned the corner and saw a side entrance to the basement but a guard walked round the corner.
He drew his knife and went to stab her, but Cana deflected the blow with a kunai. The man forced her back, slamming her against the wall. She managed to squirm free and roll under him, cutting his back with the kunai.
She stomped on his knee and slashed with the kunai, cutting of a strand off the man's hair. The man roared and kicked her in the stomach, causing blood to trickle out of her mouth. He slammed her against the wall again. Cana spat blood in his eyes.
The man cursed, but didn't let go. Cana felt along the wall. She realised the wall was filled with weapons and armour. She grabbed the nearest thing, a wooden staff. The wood also curled round a crystal at the end.
She hit the man in the stomach with it. He winced and let go of her. Cana hit him in jaw, then the stomach.
He stumbled, and Cana channeled a small amount of chakra into the staff, hoping to increase the staff's striking power, but instead a small amount of magic energy shot out the end of the staff. It hit the man in chest, sending him crashing into the wall.
Cana heard voices and looked round the corner. A group of guards had heard the noise and were striding down the corridor. They spotted Cana and began to advance on her, but a dagger of lightning tore through the air, hitting the guards and sending them flying.
She turned to see Laxus standing with his hand extended, Sasuke behind him, each carrying an unconcious child over their shoulder.
Laxus quirked an eyebrow.
"Wow, she actually made it."
"Yeah, she did." Replied Sasuke, sounding suprised.
Cana did a double take. "Why do you sound suprised?!"
The three walked back to the guild. When they got there it was normal, well as normal as Fairy Tail could be anyway. Gray was stripping, Natsu was fighting and Makarov was drinking.
The guild was loud, but quietened when they came in. They had split the money three ways and Cana walked over to the bar, her pockets jangeling with coins.
"Uchiha, how many members for a proper team?"
"Three."
"You know we only have two right?"
"What, oh yeah."
"Who would be our third member?"
"I don't know. Erza?"
"No, she doesn't fit our style."
"How about the kid?"
"What, Cana?"
"Yeah. She's a offensive support mage right?"
"Yeah, she is. We could try."
They called her over.
"Hey kid, want to be a part of our team?"
Cana was slightly intimidated.
"Me, with you guys? I'm not strong enough."
"Yeah, you aren't. But you can be. So, what do you say? You'll get to go on high level jobs and earn money."
Cana shrugged. "Sure, what's the worst that can happen."
A/N: Hey guys.
So just barely got this chapter up in time for Friday. I'm going to try to get chapters up for every Friday. But my life exists, and I'm kinda busy so if I don't get them up for every Friday, don't worry I will get them up for the weekend. If I don't get them up for one week I will get the chapter up for the next. If I still don't update, I will notify you why.
Call this a filler chapter if you will, but I think it's good to see Sasuke interact with other members of the guild. Let me know what you think about that. Hopefully some action and plot next chapter. Just so you know, I am not currently planning on pairings till much much later. This is not SasukexErza because their relationship would be friendly, not romantic.
As for Fairy Tail, we finally get to see Natsu and Zeref's parents. The dragon got me thinking though. And what was Zeref talking about when he said Wendy would meet 'that child'. I'm sure all the answers will be revealed soon. As for Sting vs Larcade, well Sting is a perfect match against him.
Considering changing my name. Won't be anything very different probably just Katsu Shinshi. Keep an eye out for that.
Thanks for reading and leave a follow, favourite or review.
Cheers,
Katsu :)