Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or ANYTHING relating to the other characters.

Note: This is significantly longer than the original chapter for this part, it includes more couples, and I did change what I took from the original parts, at least a bit.

Enjoy!


"WHAT?!" the Fairy Tail girls screeched in unison.

Erza and Mirajane immediately started projecting murderous intent.

"Master…" Mirajane began sweetly. "While I'm sure that it is not your intent, we do not appreciate being sold off like livestock to the highest bidder."

The sarcasm in her voice was barely perceptible, and Toph had to give the girl props.

Makarov sweat-dropped at the comment. After all, that was exactly what he wanted to do. And though he trusted Mirajane's restraint, Erza's eyebrow was beginning to twitch, a dangerous sign to all who knew her.

"No, it's not that at all!" Makarov hastened to assure the girls, raising his hands in an attempt to placate them. "It's…well, we're running low on cash again, and given the interest in the Miss Fairy Tail pageant, I decided that this would be the best way to raise money quickly!"

At that, Lucy's eyebrow started twitching, causing Makarov to inwardly burst into tears.

"Try again, Master." The blonde demanded, crossing her arms. "Macao had me act as his accountant due to the training my father gave me when I still lived with him, and I know we're not in financial danger, nor have we done anything that would have lost us that money. Unless there's something you would like to tell us…"

Silence.

Makarov was staring between Lucy, Erza, and Mirajane nervously, while the other girls were content to watch the drama unfold.

And begin to prepare revenge plans if Makarov didn't cower and give up this idea.

"Ah!" Makarov shouted suddenly. "I lost a bet with Lamia Scale's guild master, alright?!"

None of the girls looked impressed.

"If nothing else it'll give you a break from training?" he offered weakly, before yelping as most of the girls lunged forwards-


"I can't believe the old man managed to get you all to agree with this." Laxus said cautiously as he walked into the side room where the girls were waiting.

Gramps had wanted him to make sure that they weren't going to try and jump ship, though they didn't look like they were going to.

Good, because personally he didn't want to get in their way.

Mirajane smiled innocently. "Oh, it was no trouble."

"He just had to agree to be our training dummy for the next month." Erza said with a smirk.

Laxus' eyes widened, before he closed them with a sigh. "Just don't aim for anything too vital."

"We'll take that into consideration." The girls said in sync.

Laxus sweat-dropped, before walking out of the room, making sure not to turn his back on them.

Right.

He'd almost forgotten how much Fairy Tail girls (and female mages in general) differed from everyone else, since he hadn't been around other mages during his exile.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the newer Fairy Tail girls were just as terrifying (well, that girl Kozupii didn't seem too bad, but you never knew with girls).

Fan-fucking-tastic.

Oh well. Gramps deserved everything he had coming to him.


"Good evening, gentlemen!" Makarov greeted the crowd with a smile.

"There aren't very many gentlemen here, actually." Freed murmured, glancing around at the riff-raff inhabiting the guild hall.

Laxus smirked from his place beside him, having just gotten back from checking on the girls.

"Welcome to the first Bachelorette Auction Night!" Makarov said excitedly, eyes gleaming at the prospect of money for the guild and the sight of scantily clad girls.


"First up is the lovely Laki Olietta!" Makarov announced, as Laki jumped onto the stage. Her hair was done in a rather nice bun, with strands framing her face. She wore a white summer dress with a lavender sash and white heeled boots.

"What on earth…" Makarov muttered in confusion. That wasn't the outfit that she had been given to wear.

"Is something wrong, Master?" Laki asked innocently, faking concern.

"Not at all, dear." Makarov reassured, shaking his head a bit before reading off the card he had been given. "Laki is our resident Wood Make mage! Feisty, devious, and slightly sadistic, you do not want to mess with her!"

Laki waved at the crowd happily, amused as Makarov wondered who had changed his cards. He wouldn't have added that Laki was sadistic! And the clothing…

"Let's start the bidding at 10,000 Jewels!" Makarov announced.

Of all people, it was Erik (Cobra) that took the bait.

After taking a look at him and realizing that he was a dragon slayer from rumors, his pointed ears, canines, and the scar on his eye, the non-mages and mages alike decided not to go against him.

"Sold!"

"Dude!" Gray hissed. "You're engaged!"

"Really, I had no idea." Erik muttered sarcastically. "Kinana isn't participating."

Alzack nodded in agreement. Being in a committed relationship had also gotten Bisca out of it.

"Laki didn't want to do this, so Kinana told him to buy her for the night so they could all hang out with the old man paying for it." Rin explained.

"Whipped." Natsu coughed.

"Oh, don't even start." Erik warned. "Remember, I know who you like. I could easily let something…slip."

"You wouldn't!" Natsu gasped, glancing nervously at the girl only a few feet away. He wasn't subtle about it, but luckily she didn't seem to notice.

"I would." Erik said, before turning back to Rin. "I'm assuming you plan to make an offer for Kozue?"

"Yeah." Rin said with a sappy grin. He used to have a crush on Shiemi, but she had liked his twin, Yukio, and he had eventually realized that she didn't like him that way.

Kozue, however, seemed to like him back, if Cobra's hints were to be trusted. Sweet, compassionate, and beautiful, but she could also take care of herself. She was also more intelligent than he was, no surprise there.

Meredy spoke up, then. "I hope Kirito bids for Asuna and it doesn't turn out like last time…"

"That was funny." Jet admitted. He froze as he wondered whether or not Gajeel would act like that with him and Droy if he did end up with Levy. If she had to make a choice, it would be them, right?

Right?


"Next up is Levy McGarden, our Solid Script Mage! Considered the most intelligent person in the entire guild, Levy has a deep love for books, and she's the most loyal and forgiving person you could ever meet."

"30,000 Jewels!" Jet shouted before Makarov could continue.

"35,000!" Droy yelled.

"40,000!"

"50,000!"

"60,000!"

And on it went.

From the stage, Levy sighed in annoyance. Of course they would bid for her. She had rejected them both, seeing them as brothers more than anything, but they wouldn't get the hint.

"Poor Miss Levy." Pantherlily said from his place beside Gajeel.

"Shrimp can take care of herself." The Iron Dragon Slayer muttered, though he frowned at the girl's team members. The black and silver dress she was wearing had made him bite his lip longingly.

"Yes, but they might try to kiss her on this 'date'." Lily said. Gajeel's eyes flashed.

"Tch. She's rejected them before." He grumbled, clenching his fists uncertainly.

"This is an opportunity for them to convince her to give one of them a chance." Lily mused thoughtfully.

Gajeel growled lowly at that, looking ready to lunge at the pair of idiots, before freezing when Lily tossed a sack towards him.

"The hell…" he muttered, glancing inside.

Jewels. Specifically, Gajeel's savings. They would be more than enough to outbid the less interesting parts of Shadow Gear.

"You little shit!" Gajeel growled, realizing that his cat had been baiting him.

"Doesn't make it any less true." Lily said dismissively, leaning back in his chair.

'Besides, the poor girl's been trying to find a subtle way to thank you for the flowers…' he thought.

A few moments later, Levy beamed brightly as she went backstage after her turn. 600,000 Jewels!

She was met with her best friend, who ran straight to her and hugged her tightly.

"He finally made a move!" Lucy said excitedly.

The blunette had been so excited the week before when Gajeel gave her flowers, but this time the Iron Dragon Slayer had no choice but to stick around and deal with the consequences of his actions.

Not that Levy planned on making those consequences something that he would regret.

Levy nodded, biting her lip in an attempt not to squeal as she hugged back.

The other girls smiled at them, happy for Levy. That being said, most of them were blindsided when they were presented with the idea that the sweet and petite bookworm liked the rough and impolite dragon slayer.

Mirajane hummed the wedding march to herself happily, imagining black haired children with large hazel eyes.


"Mirajane Strauss, our lovely Demon Take Over mage!" Makarov announced, happy that the event was going well so far. It almost made up for the less revealing outfits, though he might still punish whoever had switched them out. "Compassionate and loving, but none the less willing to kick your ass if you threaten the people she cares about!"

The bidding went on for twenty minutes before Freed won for 1,500,000J. He had a substantial amount in his bank account, and seven years of interest helped.

Macao and Wakaba wept.


"Erza Scarlet!"

Jellal won, though the confrontation between him, Ichiya, and Nichiya would be legendary.


"Cana Alberona!"

Macao won, only bidding in the first place because he didn't want the girl's dad, Gildarts, to try and kill Makarov when he found out about this.

Fairy Tail's Ace wouldn't kill him if he just intended on hanging out with her and drinking like usual, right?


"Asuna Yuki!"

Kirito had learned his lesson, and immediately bid 500,000 Jewels. Other takers were discouraged that he was willing to bid so much from the get go, so they didn't bother, though there was some grumbling.


"Sinon Asada!"

Kirito and the other males who knew her well grimaced sympathetically for the poor sap who had won her. The Guns Mage was well-known for her hatred of most males, though Kirito was an exception.


"Charlotte Phantomhive!"

When she was called up, having been forced into wearing a frilly Victorian-era Lolita dress, those who knew her also felt sorry for the poor sucker who 'won' a date with the half-demon. Not that they cared about that, but the other two half-demons in the guild weren't trained by one of England's best assassins to compliment said demon-half.


"Kozue Orihara!"

Rin did manage to win, but it was harder than he had anticipated, and he had spent much more than he had hoped he would have to. He groaned as he realized that he might have to eat nothing but ramen for the next few months.

Oh well. He still had enough money to pay for their date.

Besides, he just had to take a few jobs and he'd have enough to feed himself.


"Juvia Lockser!"

To everyone's surprise, Gray had bid on her, in part because he felt guilty that she'd gotten him a birthday present but he hadn't even known when hers was until after it had passed.

Unfortunately for Juvia, however, he was outbid by Lyon Vastia of Lamia Scale.

Needless to say, Gray was not in the best of moods after that.

And neither was Juvia.


"Toph Bei Fong!

She was won by a young man with dark brown hair, gold eyes, and a burn scar on his left eye. He wore clothes a bit similar to Toph's, but in various shades of red.

"Sparky!" Toph shouted excitedly when she heard his voice.

"Hey Toph, long time no see." The boy said with a smirk.

He had just happened to be on his way home from Crocus after meeting the King of Fiore for the upcoming Games when he heard about the auction, and figured he might as well get his friend out of it. Not like he didn't have the money.

Besides, he could put it down as 'travel expenses' once he got back home, which would make the council of advisors that seemed to think that they had much more power than they actually did reimburse him.

That's what the old coots got for trying to usurp his authority and bring back the time when the Fire Nation was trying to destroy Water and Earth, having already mostly destroyed Air.

He was the Fire Lord, damn it. He was the one in charge.

And now he could put off dealing with them while he spent some time with a good friend that he hadn't seen in a while.


"Evergreen!"

The woman was torn between pleasure and dread when Elfman bid on her, while Mirajane sighed in despair.

In the end, she simply huffed and hid her face behind her fan, unsure if she was blushing or not.


"Lisanna Strauss!"

Mirajane was horrified when Bickslow outbid the others, winning a date with her sister.

For her part, Lisanna wasn't sure what to think, but she didn't particularly mind.


"Raven Roth!"

Out of everyone, the one who won her for a date was the most surprising.

Rogue Cheney, Shadow Dragon Slayer from the Sabertooth guild.

The only thing that kept the Fairy Tail members from attacking him was the fact that he had cried for Minerva to stop when she was torturing Lucy and that he hadn't personally antagonized them.

Nonetheless, that was a tense moment.

Raven herself was fine with the arrangement. She doubted that he would overstep boundaries, and she was curious about his magic. After all, her own also utilized shadows.


Itachi glanced around the guild hall lazily, taking in the occupants as they awaited the next girl. There were those who looked eager at this 'chance of a lifetime', those who were smirking arrogantly, looked desperate…

A rather diverse crowd. He could see all of the colors in the rainbow represented by their hair colors.

It was beginning to get loud, and honestly, he kind of wanted to leave, but he was hear at the request of one of his guild mates, and he intended to follow through…

Flashback

Ultear strode up to the black-haired man munching his Pocky.

"Hello, Itachi." She greeted, causing the man to blink at her.

"Hello, Ultear-san…?" he asked slowly, gaze questioning.

Realizing that she had his attention, Ultear set a sack of Jewels on the table in front of him.

"What is this about?" he frowned slightly.

"I was wondering if you could make a bid for me at the action. I'm not asking for an actual date." The woman rolled her eyes a bit. "But Makarov blackmailed me into participating in exchange for leaving Meredy out of it. I don't want some creepy horndog trying to feel me up and not be able to give them a piece of my mind, so I figured I'd cheat a bit. I'd be paying for it, obviously."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. This kind of attitude seemed familiar, somehow…

(Thousands of miles away, a young woman with lighter purple hair than the woman currently in front of Itachi sneezed, blinking in confusion before shrugging and stuffing dango in her mouth.)

"I understand your reasoning, but why me?" he wondered aloud.

Ultear shrugged. "You didn't react at all when Master Makarov announced it, so I figured chances were that you weren't planning to make a bid for anyone."

Itachi was silent for a moment longer, before nodding in agreement.

Ultear graced him with a smile (gratitude and relief showing in her eyes, she must really be desperate not to leave the auction to fate), and walked away, leaving Itachi to hide away the Jewels.

A few minutes after she left, Itachi was struck by a sudden thought.

How did the Arc of Time mistress know that he hadn't reacted when Makarov announced it to the guild at large?

He hummed to himself lightly, fingering the sack hidden behind his plain black cloak (the one he arrived him had red clouds on it, but for some reason he felt a barrage of negative emotions when he looked at it, so he replaced it.)

Interesting.

He glanced up as Ultear's name was announced, and she came out dressed in a revealing purple dress with detached sleeves (AN: the same one she wore on Tenrou Island.)

Knowing how reluctant she was to be up there, Itachi caught the disgusted grimace as some of the men in the hall whistled and cat-called.

Taking a look at the men who were doing it, he could see why she was so disgusted by the prospect of having to spend the evening with them.

And so, when the bidding started, Itachi let a few people make their offers, before lifting his own hand and calling out an amount significantly higher than the rest.

Ultear, who had started to worry that he wouldn't make a bid, held back a sigh of relief as she saw him do so, before blinking in slight shock at the vibes coming from the calm man.

Such killing intent…she hadn't felt anything like that since she'd been in Grimoure Heart!

He didn't look like he was actually going to kill anybody, though, still sitting there calmly. He was doing it to get her bidding over with faster, and to intimidate the other men into giving up.

When she realized this, she quickly brought a hand up to her mouth, stifling an uncharacteristic giggle when the other males quickly backed away and Makarov announced the Uchiha's winning bid.

Smart. She fully appreciated the deviousness of it.

Later on, though, once the event had ended and everyone had begun to leave, the red-eyed man shocked her by extending an invitation for the next evening.

Ultear gaped in surprise. "I—I thought…"

"The company would be appreciated, and this way my night being surrounded by hormonal fools won't be for nothing." Itachi explained with a tiny shrug. "Your freedom was cheaper than I had expected. I thought that someone would ignore the warning and I would be required to bid higher. Cowards."

The last word was muttered quietly, but Ultear heard it all the same, and laughed.

Some might be offended at the implication that saving a girl from what basically amounted to indentured servitude for the night would be a waste of their time if they didn't get anything out of it, but Ultear had dealt in murder and subterfuge. This was nothing.

Besides, he was rather handsome.

"Tomorrow, then." Ultear agreed with a slight, bemused smile.

Itachi nodded in acknowledgement, before disappearing in a rush of wind, nothing but swirling leaves to indicate that someone had been there.

The purple-haired mage glanced at the leaves curiously. "Interesting. Seems he put those ninja scrolls Master Makarov, Lucy, and Levy found to good use."

And with that, she walked away.


"And last but not least, Lucy Heartfilia!"

Some of her friends around the hall bit their lips, realizing that since they had spent their money already, they couldn't save Lucy from a horrible date with a stranger.

Natsu was about to bid for her, regardless of the fact that it wouldn't actually be a date for them, when one of the most unexpected people spoke up.

"1,000,000 Jewels." Laxus said nonchalantly, ignoring the startled looks from his guild mates.

"Well this is an interesting development." Alzack muttered.

"1,100,000!" another voice spoke up. Sting Eucliffe.

"1,200,000." Laxus countered, narrowing his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Rogue hissed, grabbing his partner's arm.

"I followed you." Sting answered, annoyed. "You were keeping secrets."

"Fro thinks so to." The little green Exceed in the frog suit said happily, reaching up towards her partner, who gathered her into his arms.

"I wonder why." Rogue muttered with a sigh as he noticed that the Fairy Tail males were gearing for a fight, not that he could blame them. "Sting, it would be best if you left."

"Gimme a minute." The blonde muttered back, having an idea. The girl up for grabs was beautiful, but from the few times he had met her, he knew that she wasn't for him. That being said, he could mess with the guy that did want to go on a date with her. "1,300,000!" he shouted.

Rogue sighed, before moving away. Best not to get caught in the crossfire if there ended up being a brawl, and with Fairy Tail's reputation, it was practically guaranteed.

"1,500,000." Laxus glared.

"1,600,000." Sting said with a smirk. Realizing that Sting might be going too far, Lector went to join Rogue and Frosch. While he had every confidence that Sting could beat the other guy in a fight (though no one else would agree with that opinion), they were more or less surrounded by Fairies.

"2 million." Laxus said firmly, standing up as lightning danced around his muscular body.

Sting's eyes widened, realizing that he had bitten off more than he could chew, before he high-tailed it out of there.

Rogue shook his head. He would take the two Exceeds to a local hotel before going on his date with the mysterious beauty that he had been lucky enough to 'win.'


Lucy stood on the stage in shock as she witnessed the events.

"Laxus bid for me?" she whispered, eyes wide.

"You're rather lucky." Evergreen said, adjusting her glasses. "The weird guy from Blue Pegasus and his cat were about to bid for you. That's why Laxus started so high. He already knew their limit from when they tried to win Erza."

Lucy let out a breath, realizing that she had dodged a bullet. Well, more like Laxus had shielded her from it, but the point still stood.

Seeing the blonde girl relax, Evergreen smiled slightly behind her fan.

As if that was really the only reason Laxus bid for her!

Yes, she knew what the Thunder God's stares meant. Call it women's intuition! Though that wouldn't explain the Heartfilia girl's obliviousness to his attraction for her…

Oh well. Someday in the near future, they might have a Thunder Goddess!

About time that spot was filled.


"Oh!" Wendy gasped as Laxus punched the other blonde male in the face. "This is more dramatic than I expected. I'm glad I'm not down there!"

The 'and being auctioned' part was left unsaid, but not unheard.

"So am I." Romeo agreed, before thinking privately. 'I don't think I have enough money to win a date with you, but hanging out is probably better anyway. Less pressure, stress, money, and—(he cringed as Natsu and Gray joined the fight) pain. Definitely less pain.'


From the rafters at the top of the building, Ryder and Jack sat next to Toothless, who was hanging from the wooden beam like a bat.

"Man, am I glad I'm not a girl." Jack muttered.

"Or attracted to one of them." Ryder agreed, tossing some popcorn in his mouth as the two boys and their reptilian companion watched the chaos below.


Please review!

Hope you guys enjoyed it. While you guys don't seem to mind my 'romance' scenes, they really aren't my strong suit, and I'm almost never satisfied with them.

I think this is the longest chapter I've written for this story OR the original version.