Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and Fairy Tail. They belong to their respective owner.

A/N: Thank you to fellow readers, old and new especially RinneSasuke, princesspearl, naruto x fairy tail, imortal12, annarochev, nikkitheprincess, Ruh, king and fictionlover1993 for reviewing the previous chapter and also to those who favorite/follow this story. I really appreciate it. To the guests that review the story, thank you so much. I can't reply to your comment personally because you don't have an account, but I appreciate it nonetheless.

Sorry in advance for any mistake.

Chapter 17

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"It's good to know that you're doing good Erza," Mira said once they were alone in the student council room. The other student council members were already out with their respective tasks for the big day.

Erza stared at the white haired girl sitting opposite her with a small smile. "You too Mira," she said. "Look at you now, you've become the student council's president of Magnolia High," she teased.

"Of course, who else would dare to keep the students in line after you left," Mira rolled her eyes at her.

Erza chuckled at that. Talking to Mira again after all these years felt good to her but her joy was cut short when she noticed the serious look Mira was giving her.

"Seriously Erza, you didn't even contact me at all since last year. Do you know how worried I was?" She reprimanded her.

That was just like Mira. She would go straight to the point without beating around the bushes. Erza knew Mira would bring this up and she felt the guilt began to eat away in her heart. "I'm sorry Mira, it was not my intention to act like such a brat," she said sadly, turning her gaze away from Mira's accusing stare. "I was having some problem and it was complicated. It was better if I didn't let you get involve with it."

"Why? Because you thought your uncle would fire my dad if I help you somehow? If we take you under our roof?" She questioned.

Erza's eyes widened at that. "You knew?" She didn't expect Mira to know about this.

"Not everything," she admitted. "My dad heard rumors going around the company about his boss trying to sell Scarlet Enterprise but failed. Then he said that you're no longer living with the Heartfilias. It doesn't take a genius to piece two and two together," Mira uttered in disdain.

"Then you have to understand why I cut all my ties. He threatened Lucy to not help me and I think he would do the same thing to your dad because he knew how close I am to you, to your family."

Mira looked like she wanted to argue, but she held her tongue on the matter. She looked away in defeat because she knew that Erza was right. The Strauss didn't come from a rich family and if Mira's father was fired because of her, Erza couldn't forgive herself.

"You at least should tell me something about it. Making me worry like that," Mira mumbled grudgingly. Erza could see her eyes glistening with tears.

"I'm sorry," Erza once again apologized while Mira looked away from her with a pout.

"You have to promise me that you're going to visit though," Mira said. "Mom has been asking non-stop about you and Lisanna misses you dearly," she stated.

Erza smiled at her best friend. She knew she was forgiven by Mira. They never stayed mad at each other for a long time before and today were no different. Erza got up from her seat and hugged Mira with all her might. "I will, and I miss you too Mira," she said with a grin. She really missed her best friend.

"Let go of me you idiot, who says anything about me missing you," Mira grumbled with a playful shove but she too had a grin on her face.

Erza chuckled and grabbed Mira's arm to force her to get up from the seat. "Come on, let's get out of here. I'll personally show you around and the ceremony will start soon anyway," she gushed out excitedly as they exited the room and walked along the hallway.

"Okay," Mira agreed. "But tell me something Erza, what's with you and Uchiha Sasuke? Is it true what was written in the magazine?" Mira teased her, wriggling her eyebrows in a suggesting manner. "Wow you're famous now aren't you?"

Erza groaned at the look Mira was giving her. "It's a long story," she said. She would like to tell Mira about it but she really felt like it was not the suitable time at the moment.

"Then summarize it," Mira countered cheerfully while Erza gave her friend an exasperated sigh.

"Erza!"

Erza was startled hearing someone shouted her name. At least an explanation to Mira would be postponed to a later time. She turned around and saw Mr. Gildart beckoned at to her to come to him. She and Mira walked towards him with the former wondering what her teacher wanted.

"What is it Mr. Gildart?" She asked the laid back teacher.

"Another delegacy will arrive before the opening ceremony," he informed. "I need you and the council to go and welcome them," he ordered. "I have other things I need to do."

Erza frowned in confusion. "Another delegacy? As far as I know, Magnolia High is the only school staying at our dormitory," she stated.

Mr. Gildart nodded at her. "This is a last minute decision. It is a student transfer program actually from Konoha High."

Erza remembered the proposal about it in one of the meeting but the date seemed to be wrong. "But isn't that the one that's going to be done a week after the anniversary," she inquired.

"Yeah but they want to come early to celebrate the anniversary," he said with a shrug. "Actually I'm not sure on the whole details either and I can assure you that Makarov is not happy about the change in the schedule also. He said something about the principal of Konoha High make the call because of a student. Geez, believe me when I tell you that you don't want to be there when Makarov told me of this sudden change. He was furious. Makarov said that now he knows why Konoha High proposed for a student transfer program in the first place. I wonder what the hell that was about. It doesn't make any sense to me."

It didn't make any sense to Erza either. "What about our student?"

"They will go there next week as the schedule say."

Erza pondered on this for a moment. She was curious and a bit suspicious about the whole set up but there was nothing she could about it anyway. "Alright. I'll go and welcome them," she said.

Mr. Gildart nodded at her. "I'll leave it to you to handle. Here's the file on the students," he gave her the files before he took his leave.

"I guess I'll find my own way around the school," Mira who was silent during the whole exchange spoke out.

"Nonsense," Erza countered. "Come on, you'll come with me to welcome the delegacy from Konoha High," she dragged the white haired girl with her.

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Erza gave the students from Konoha High the warm welcome as she showed them to their dorm first to place their bags. The president of Konoha High, Yamanaka Ino was a cheerful and beautiful girl with a long mane of blonde hair. Erza was glad that the rest of the student was ecstatic to be here and full of energy, but that cannot be said for one student in particular who was giving her a bad vibe. The girl with the pink hair, whom she found to be called Haruno Sakura, was often staring at her when she thought Erza was not looking. Erza wondered what her problem was. She could practically feel the hatred directed towards her in waves.

After a short discussion with Ino about the schedule for today, she walked away from the dorm with Mira to go to the assembly hall. The opening ceremony would begin in half an hour so she wanted to make the final inspection on everything. But not long after that she heard a voice from behind her.

"Scarlet Erza is it?" The melodious voice spoke up.

Erza turned around and saw the girl with the bubblegum pink hair striding towards her with a smile on her face. She mentally snorted, even she could see that the smile was fake. Erza was sure that she never met Haruno Sakura before so she wondered what made Sakura disliked her so much.

"Is there anything I can help you with Sakura?" She asked politely. She better treaded on a neutral ground since Sakura was a guest to the school.

"Not really," she muttered with a slow shake of her head. The fake smile was still plastered on her face but Erza noticed the narrowing of her eyes as she gazed at her. "But I really want to know why you didn't make a statement to deny the claim in the magazine, about the relationship between you and Sasuke," she said.

Erza raised an eyebrow at that. So this was what it was all about. Sasuke. Sakura's question made her wondered about Sasuke's connection to her.

Wait a second. Wasn't Sasuke transferred from Konoha High? She mentally thought to herself.

"Well, it's obvious that you two are not a couple, so why not say so?" She asked. "Is it because you want to be seen as his girlfriend, is that it?" Sakura asked with a tilt of her head in an innocent gesture, but there was nothing innocent in her tone of voice or the way Sakura challenged her with her eyes.

This bitch! Erza couldn't help but cursing the pink haired girl standing in front of her in her head. How dare she insinuate that I was using Sasuke like that! Oh how Erza wanted to wipe the smug look on her face. She couldn't believe the nerve of this girl, coming to her and accusing her like that.

She forced herself to calm down. She knew that Sakura was trying to rile her up and Erza wouldn't let Sakura have the upper hand here. "For your information, Sasuke advised me not say anything and I particularly don't like to discuss my private life openly in school, so excuse me I need to get to the assembly hall. I suggest you get ready and head there soon Sakura," Erza replied calmly with a neutral face, betraying her real feeling towards the newcomer from Magnolia High. "See you later," she said before she turned around and walked away from there with Mira in tow.

It was when they were out of the dormitory when Mira turned to her and asked her worriedly. "Are you okay Erza?"

"I'm fine," she answered curtly.

"Are you sure? Because I thought you look ready to skin the bitch alive back at the dormitory," Mira stated. "Hell, even I was ready to skin her alive," she added.

"What do you mean?" She gave Mira a sideway glance. A frown on her beautiful face. "I was calm back there."

It was Mira's turn to give her an exasperated sigh. "It's when you're freaking calm that you are the most dangerous," she said pointedly. "I saw it too many times back when you were still at Magnolia High."

Erza admitted that Mira had a point there. There was no used to try to fool someone who knew her and her method. "You're right," she admitted. "I was ready to beat her to a pulp, skin her alive, tear her limbs apart and feed them to the dog," she grumbled with a sinister smirk on her lips. "Not necessarily in that order," she added as an afterthought.

"It's good to know that your violent mind has gotten more creative," Mira commented dryly.

Erza chuckled. "Well, who wouldn't after spending so much time with Faith," she replied remembering her destructive cousin.

"Faith?"

"I'll tell you later about that. Right now, we need to hurry to the assembly hall," she said.

"Alright," Mira agreed resignedly. "But tell me you at least know who the pink haired girl really is."

Erza looked at Mira who was walking beside her. "Am I supposed to know her?" She asked with a frown and she saw Mira sighed at her ignorance.

"That's Haruno Sakura."

"That was what I know from the file. So?"

"She's one of the top young models in the country," Mira supplied helpfully albeit with a frustrated look on her face. "She has the hots for Sasuke, that's obviously why she hates you. There's a scandal about them last year I think, although Sasuke denied having any relationship with her."

Erza listened to the bits of information in interest as she stored it away at the back of her head. She could feel that Sakura was going to be trouble. She wondered if Sasuke knew about her being here.

"Let Sasuke deals with her. She's not my problem," she said half-heartedly to Mira. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Mira shrugged and they both resumed their way to their destination without any other interruption.

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Sasuke walked along the hallway with Naruto and Natsu after the opening ceremony to see some of the activity held during the celebratory. He even took part in the friendly match between Fairy Tail High and Magnolia High in basketball later today. He was looking forward to it. He couldn't wait to kick some ass during the game. Thinking about Magnolia High brought his mind to a certain blue haired man. He hoped Jellal Fernandes was not one of the students who came here.

But his hope was crushed as soon as he noticed the familiar blue hair in the distance walking towards him with several men wearing the same uniform as him.

Talk about the devil, Sasuke mentally rolled his eyes at the impeccable timing.

"Oi, is that Jellal Fernandes?" Naruto whispered to him with a scowl.

"The one and only," he replied with a snort.

"Did you know that he's going to be here?" Natsu looked at him expectantly with a worried look.

"No," he answered shortly. He noticed Jellal Fernandes was looking his way when he was approaching near and they were quickly locked in a staring contest with neither willing to back down.

They came to a stop in front of each other and Sasuke noticed the slight glare thrown his way from the Fernandes heir while he merely raised an eyebrow at him. He could see the look of confusion from the other Magnolia High students but no one dared to say anything because of the tension rolling in waves from the two of them.

No one said anything and just stood there not knowing what to do.

For Sasuke, there was no need for words to convey what he felt towards Jellal when his eyes spoke volume and he could see that Jellal felt the same thing. They hated each other and aware of the reason, it was as simple as that.

Sensing their mutual dislike towards each other, both of them opted to walk away from there and Sasuke slide past him with Naruto and Natsu in tow.

"What the hell was that about?" Natsu who couldn't contain his question bellowed out when they were out of hearing range from the bunch of Magnolia student.

"Yeah, I thought you were ready to have a showdown back then," Naruto commented.

"Hn," Sasuke snorted. "He's trying to say that he hates me and I let him know that the feeling is mutual," he grumbled.

The twins stopped on their track and looked at each other with confusion on their faces.

"They were not saying anything back then right?" Natsu asked Naruto dumbly with question marks floating above his head.

"No," Naruto said with the similar look on his face.

"Since when did Sasuke develop psychic ability?" Natsu wondered out loud.

"Eh?" Naruto stared dumbfounded at his twin.

Sasuke groaned at his two best friends. They could be so stupid sometimes for someone so smart.

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Sasuke stomped towards the student council room hoping to find Erza. Naruto and Natsu who tagged along with him earlier had disappeared to who knows where. The short meeting with Jellal Fernandes left him with a bad mood. He wondered why Erza didn't say anything that her ex-boyfriend would be coming. She must have known of this beforehand.

He didn't really know what had happened between the two of them in the past but he bet that Jellal would use the time he was here to get back into Erza's good grace again. He knew Jellal still loved the red head, he could see it in his eyes when they met at the mall not too long ago. He wondered what happened with Ultear. Did they break up or what? His feeling would not rest until he saw Erza and heard her view on this. He knew that he was jealous and felt threatened with Jellal being in a close distance with Erza. He wanted to tell her to stay away from Jellal but he couldn't since she was not his girl, and that made him very frustrated because he couldn't tell her what to do, or warned the blue haired man to keep his distance from her.

"Sasuke!"

The loud shrilling voice startled him a bit and before he could turn to his left towards where the voice was coming from, his vision was filled with a blob of pink hair and a body that came barreling towards him, hugging his form to the point of suffocation.

He looked down and saw the face of one person he tried to avoid at all cost looking back at him with a smile on her face.

"Sakura?" He blurted out in shock.

The girl giggled at his dumbfounded expression. "Surprised to see me?" She asked with a sultry smirk on her face.

Before he could give any reply, the door to the council room was pushed open and Sasuke saw Erza walking out of the door with a stack of papers in her hands. Time seemed to stop still as he saw the familiar brown orb that he loved so much stared back at them. Sasuke saw the widening of Erza's eyes before she quickly averted her gaze and hurriedly walking away in the opposite direction.

"Wait a minute, Erza!" He called out to her. He tried to move in her direction but Sakura tightened her hold on him.

"I just got here, can you show me around?" She asked, looking at him with a pout.

Sasuke gave her his famous glare and pried her hand away from him with a disgusted face. "I don't know what you're doing here Sakura, but stay away from me," he warned dangerously before he stalked away from her in pursuit of the red haired student council president.

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Erza quickened her pace as she walked away from the scene of Sakura hugging Sasuke at the hallway leading to the council room. She heard Sasuke calling out for her but she ignored it.

She couldn't.

She couldn't bring herself to stop and turn only to see him in Sakura's arm. The sight brought an unexpected twinge of pain to her heart. She wanted to tear them away from each other but she had no right to do so.

Jealousy.

That was what she was feeling back when she saw them like that. She kept telling herself that she was not falling for him and tried her best to not fall for him, but who was she kidding this time. She couldn't keep lying to herself. She had fallen hard for Sasuke, and it took him to be in other girl's arm to make her see that. And the smug smirk Sakura gave her only made her bristled with anger.

She felt like crying but she steeled herself to not become so weak over this.

"Erza!" She gasped when she felt her arm being grabbed from behind. She was forced to stop on her track and came face to face with Sasuke. "Where are you going? Didn't you hear me calling for you?" He was frowning at her.

"I'm in a hurry, I need to get these papers to Mr. Gildarts as soon as possible," she said trying to break free from his tight grip.

She felt the grip on her arms loosen but Sasuke made no indication to let go of her soon.

"Look, what you saw back then, it wasn't like what you think," he tried to explain to her.

But she cut him off. "Sasuke, you don't have to clarify anything to me," she said with a small smile. She only hoped that her eyes were not giving her away on how she really felt at the moment.

"But-"

"I really need to go," she said urgently.

Sasuke let go of her arms and they stood there in an awkward silence.

"I'll see you at the game later," Erza uttered before she walked away leaving him alone to watch her retreating back until she disappeared from his sight.

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Naruto was startled out of his skin when Sasuke slammed the door to his locker shut with a loud bang. The sound reverberating through the locker room and the nearby students stared at him cautiously. Beside him, Natsu elbowed him in the rib and raised an eyebrow in question seeing their best friend in such a foul temper. Naruto only shrugged in return with the puzzled look. He didn't know what made Sasuke to be like this.

Giving the Uchiha no mind, he resumed changing his shirt to get ready for the basketball game that was going to start in half an hour.

"You ready?" Naruto asked, well aware of his bad mood state but wise enough not to say anything about it.

"Yeah," Sasuke grumbled shortly.

"Let's go guys," Gray as the team captain said before he made the first move to get out of the room and headed to the court.

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"I'm from the opposite school you know. Is it really okay for me to be here?" Mira asked for the second time as they took a seat on the bench at the player's side when all of the other spectators were sitting on the bleachers.

"Don't worry Mira. You're with me," Erza reassured her. They were slightly late but she was glad that the game had not started yet. The team was already standing by in the court and they went for a quick huddle before the game. No doubt to hear Gray drilled the strategy into their skull for the last time and presented them with a passionate little speech to lift their spirit.

The team cheered and broke away from their huddle to take their respective position in the court.

"Good luck Fairy Tail High," Erza cheered catching the attention from the players. She saw Natsu gave her his trademark grin and a thumb up while Naruto nodded in her direction. Gray smiled and waved at her in acknowledgement while Sasuke didn't even make any eye contact with her.

That was disappointing, she thought silently. She noticed that he looked a bit glum, unlike his usual cocky self and she really wanted to cheer him up. She also noticed Jellal on the opposite team and she purposely avoiding any eye contact with him.

"Who's the tall blonde?" Mira suddenly asked her.

Erza followed her line of sight. A smirk adorned her lips when she noticed the blonde Mira was talking about. "That's Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto, one of my good friends here."

"Really?" Mira gushed out excitedly. "He's cute," she commented.

Erza didn't even bother to hide her sly smirk. "I can introduce you two later if you want," she said leaning towards the white haired girl, wiggling her eyebrow for the effect.

Mira blushed at what she was implying. "Erza, don't get any ideas," she scolded with a pout.

Erza let out a rare giggle to escape her lips. "Seriously though, I totally can see the two of you together," she said seriously to Mira.

"Whatever," Mira muttered before she trailed her eyes back to Naruto.

Erza could see that Mira was really into Naruto and it was on the first time she saw him. This was so unlike Mira that she knew of before. She wondered if it was love at first sight for her white haired friend.

The whistle was blown and then the game started.

The students went crazy when Gray got the first ball and he skillfully dribbled the ball, feint a move and passed the ball to Natsu before Natsu passed it back to Gray who was already waiting behind the three point line and shoot. The ball went easily through the hoop and a loud cheer was heard when he scored the first three point for Fairy Tail High. Erza cheered in excitement at the excellent display of skill and strategy. Things were looking good for the team.

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Sasuke dribbled the ball expertly in his hands while trying to figure out a way to move forward towards the goal post. Around him, the girls were screaming his names in excitement and supporting him with their cheering. Things were looking good for the team. They were currently leading with 45 to 41 and he intended to make the gap even wider. Finally seeing an opening, he tried to make his way to move forward but suddenly, he saw blue out of the corner of his eyes before he was roughly shoved making him lose his balance and sent him crashing painfully to the hard floor.

"Fuck!" He cursed feeling the pain on his elbows and left hand from the scraping against the floor.

The sound of protest was heard from his team mates as Naruto helped him to his feet. There was only one man with the blue hair on the opposite team and his eyes immediately searched for the culprit. He went to Jellal as soon as he spotted him.

"What the hell was that for?" He grumbled with fire in his eyes. "Don't you know how to play fair?" He spat in anger.

Jellal narrowed his eyes at him and retorted with the same heated gaze. "Fair? It's not my fault you're not a man enough to take a little brush," he said snidely in a mocking tone.

Sasuke bristled when he heard that. As if on its own accord, his feet brought him to Jellal and he grabbed the front of his uniform in a fist with a murderous glare. "What did you say you bastard?" He muttered dangerously. He could feel Jellal grabbed his own uniform in the same manner.

All around him, he could see Naruto and Natsu gripped his arm and trying to break them apart and the other players from Magnolia High was doing the same thing to Jellal. The whistle was blown, the referee was saying something and he could hear the distant chant from the students on the bleachers but all of that fell on deaf ears.

"I said it's not my fault that you're not a man enough to take a little brush," Jellal repeated in a condescending tone.

That was all it took for Sasuke to punch the pompous man in the face and sent him stumbling to the floor. He took a step for another shot but he was quickly stopped by Naruto and Gray who was dragging him backward, away from blue haired man.

"That's it! Both of you are out of the game!" The referee bellowed ordering for them to get the hell out of the court. Sasuke let himself dragged away by Naruto and sat on the bench beside the court. The referee issued a five minutes break before the game resumed. "And Scarlet, take the first aid kit and see Fernandes over there," he ordered Erza.

"Yes Sir," he heard Erza answered somewhere behind him. He watched as Erza passed him towards the opposite side of the bench across the court. He clenched his hands tightly as his eyes silently tracing her form as she tended to her injured ex-boyfriend with great care.

He felt someone sat next to him on the bench but he paid him no mind.

"Your bitch face is on," Naruto whispered under his breath but loud enough for him to hear it. "At least have the decency to control your jealousy from showing."

Sasuke scowled even further at that. It was his own fault that Erza was tending to Jellal right now. He felt the urge to go there and take her away from him. Who knew what Jellal was saying to her right now?

Sasuke let out a heavy sigh and raked his hand through his raven hair. He really needed to clear out his mind. Everything was falling apart for him today. Without saying anything, he got up from the bench and walked out of there to get some air. He heard Naruto calling him but he ignored the blonde and proceeded to walk away.

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To be continued

A/N: I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thank you for reading and reviewing.