Hey guys! It's been a while, hasn't it?
Sorry this took so long, I've been under a lot of stress lately *curses about SATs and homework*
Anyways I worked really hard on this chapter, so I hope you like it! I did my best to keep Mira in character while still getting in what I wanted.
So, please excuse any spelling/grammar errors (honestly, I've reread this about 10 times and reworked a few scenes ... I can't read it over again) and enjoy!
It was an understatement to say Mirajane was nervous as she paced outside the guildhall at 7:45 in the morning.
No one came in this early, except for Erza occasionally, but she accepted an S-class mission of her own and headed out last night. Natsu, Lucy, Gray and Happy were on a small job not too far from Magnolia that Erza felt she could trust them with. Elfman was out on a job with, surprisingly enough, Evergreen. Apparently she needed a partner but Freed and Bickslow were out on their own job, leaving her to begrudgingly ask for Elfman's help.
Not even her little brother knew she was heading out on her first job since Lisanna.
"Lis," Mira whispered under her breath. "You'll be here with me, right?"
She took a deep breath and twirled a piece of hair around her finger, looking down at her shoes. After fidgeting with her clothes from anxiety, she felt self-conscious about her outfit of choice. It was a blue spaghetti top that matched her eyes with a white skirt, her feet resting in some strappy black heels. She started rock back onto the pencil-thin heels and walk around in small circles on them.
"Mirajane Strauss, I presume?" a voice Mira was sure she heard before sounded behind her.
Turning her head, she found the young man from the communication lacrima yesterday. The same young man with paper pale skin and pitch black hair with eyes to match. He was dressed in a formal but casual suit. It was her client, or someone to take her to her client rather.
And there she was, balancing on the heels of her shoes and walking in awkward circles, looking oh-so-professional. Quickly she ran over to him, bowing her head upon stopping a few feet away.
"Yes, that's me," she rose her head to look at him.
"Are you ready to depart?" his voice was emotionless as he spoke.
She gave a quick nod.
"What about your things?" he looked around for a suit case or something of the sort.
"Oh, I have all of my belongings stored in another dimension. I'm able to access them whenever I need," she conjured her signature dark magic circle, once it left a leather jacket was in her left hand. She repeated the process and it disappeared.
"Very well; follow me."
Following him through town, she noticed he was an only-speak-when-required type of man. It was a relief to her, she didn't have to try and make conversation. Usually talking to people wouldn't be a problem for her, but her nerves were running amok in her body at the moment.
It was a good fifteen minutes later that they arrived on the outskirts of the city, where she was lead into the forest, and another twenty minutes or so later, a campsite.
"A campsite?" she mumbled, wondering why the son of a Lord be camping of all things. It was packed with people, not exactly the ideal way to stay hidden from possible attacks.
"You're probably wondering why the son of a Lord is camping, aren't you?" her guide asked, not even turning around. "You see … the Young Lord is a bit of a snobbish baby. It's a punishment for him from his father, trying to make him appreciate the wonderful life he lives. Although the Young Lord has all of his amenities, so it's not making the best difference. The only thing is that we can't take the train back, he's forcing us to travel by foot. That's why you're here," he turned around to look at her. "It'll take us about a few weeks to get back to the Young Lord's home. You shouldn't have to step in really, not unless the guards are struggling. So just accompany us for a while, the Young Lord's father wanted to hire a mage to put his mind at ease."
"Don't worry, I'm perfectly capable of doing that," she smiled, her nerves somehow vanishing after seeing the working campsite.
There was a big exquisite tent, which you could only assume was the Young Lord's, at the end by the tree line of the clearing. Various other tents surrounded it, which Mirajane assumed belonged to the large platoon of guards and the few dozen servants scurrying about.
"Excellent, I shall take you to meet the Young Lord now. My name is Mitsuuki, I am the Young Lord's personal butler, please don't hesitate to ask me about anything," he began to walk towards the big black and golden tent while Mirajane absentmindedly followed. As soon as they entered the perimeter of the camp everyone stopped moving. Mira could hear them mumbling, whispering about her.
"Isn't that the pin-up model, Mirajane Strauss?!"
"I didn't know she was a mage, and an S-class one at that!"
"Can she really protect that snobby bastard? She's looks so frail and tiny."
"I think I remember rumors about her a long time ago, but I can't remember."
"Everyone," Mirajane stopped dead in the center of camp, the biggest smile on her face. "I look forward to working with you!" she bowed deeply, then continued to follow Mitsuuki. The large group that had surrounded her had instantly stopped talking and slowly got back to their jobs. Before she could even think about it, they were in front of the tent.
"I'll announce your presence, wait here for a moment," Mitsuuki disappeared inside before coming back a few moments later. "Come in."
Mira stepped inside, immediately over-come with the smell of smoke. The inside of the tent was enormous like the outside, and towards the far left was a large bed. To the right was a sitting area, where the source of the smoke was coming from. On a large love seat sat the Young Lord, smoking a pipe, dressed in fine robes and surrounded by half-naked women. He was smoking a pipe and eyeing Mira as if she was something to eat.
"Oh, so it's true. My magical body guard is none other than Mirajane Strauss," his voice was bleeding arrogance. The Young Lord's face was extraordinarily beautiful and striking. Shaggy sandy-blonde hair, emerald eyes, porcelain skin, and even sitting down it was obvious he was tall and lean.
"I'm honored that you know of me," Mira just smiled, she didn't like to judge people on their appearance, but she had a feeling this man was going to irritate her at some point.
"Come here, darling. I saved you a special seat," he patted his lap, earning cries of protest from the women around him. "Now, now, ladies. While all of you are beautiful, you know you can't compare to the beauty of that angel."
Her anger flared when he insulted the girls, but she swallowed it and continued to be kind. The some point that he got on her nerves came sooner than expected. Actually, he flew right past getting on her nerves to making her angry, but she wasn't going to snap right away. After all it was her first job in years, she couldn't start it out on a bad note.
"I'm sorry, but we're only going to have a professional relationship."
"You disappoint me so, Mirajane. I've wanted you for so long, and now you're right in front of me," he stood up, his robes slipping and exposing his toned torso. The blue and black silks trailed behind him as he walked towards Mira, circling her once he reached her.
"Absolutely exquisite," he stopped and stared down at her. "Tell me, my dear, you can't possibly not want me," he attempted to grope her butt, but she grabbed his right hand in hers. Apply just enough pressure not to break it, she smiled once more.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't touch me, Young Lord."
He tried to jerk his hand back, but couldn't get free from her grip until she actually let go.
"You bitch! It's broken, my hand! My hand, my wrist! Mitsuuki! Mitsuuki, get rid of her!" he cried like a young child, running over to his butler while holding his right wrist.
"I'm afraid I cannot do that, Young Lord. Fairy Tail has already accepted the request, and there are rules that protect her. For example, your attempt to touch her like that is illegal according to the contract of the job request. You have no grounds to fire her, and it wouldn't hold up in court," he deadpanned, not even looking up from a clipboard he picked up somewhere.
"Does she even know who I am?!" he whined.
"Son of the Lord Fukikai, seeking magical protection in these next few weeks of your travel. That's all the information she was provided."
"You didn't tell her my name?!" he stomped in place.
"No, sir, you're perfectly capable of introducing yourself."
"Hmph, stupid Mitsuuki!" he spit ash into his face, the recipient simply wiping it off and continuing his work. The Young Lord shoved his pipe on top of his butler's clipboard and stormed outside, his yelling for people to move could be heard loud and clear.
"As you can see, Miss Mirajane, the Young Lord has quite the attitude problem. Please just ignore him, he's a child in a twenty-four year old's body."
"No problem," she sweat-dropped, and the young butler nodded and went outside.
"Um, Miss Strauss?" one of the girls spoke up, causing her to turn and look at them all. There were four in total, all of them now properly covered up. "We're sorry about the Young Lord's behavior too. He can't help it, he was ignored all of his childhood and ended up like this. He's a little obsessed with women because he knows that if he gives us money, we won't leave him. We don't take any of his insults personally, so please don't worry," a girl with light purple hair in a pixie cut and glasses spoke up, she reminded Mira of Laki.
"It's alright, I'm here on a professional basis anyways. Since you all obviously know my name, can I ask yours?"
"I'm Tsukmi, age twenty," the girl who spoke up bowed.
"Fuumi, age twenty one," a girl with long brown hair bowed.
"Izumia, age twenty," a girl with short blonde hair bowed.
"I'm Rouki, age nineteen," a girl with medium length blue hair bowed.
"Nice to meet you all," Mirajane bowed back, and they all smiled at each other.
"So, you're an S-class mage? Wow, I never knew that!" Izumia looked really excited, and Mira just nodded.
"Even models can be badass, huh?" Rouki smirked, making Mirajane giggle.
The girls were all making small talk and having a good time until an explosion outside made everyone but Mira jump.
"You guys, stay here," Mirajane ran outside to see the Young Lord holding a gun. Apparently he shot it at the guards' supply of explosives, the small spark from the bullet setting off the entire loot of it.
"Young Lord, I will kindly ask you to refrain from doing that as it can give off our position to enemies. I spent all this time masking our presence with magic talismans and even picked up the wizard myself in case we we're being listened to, and now you go and basically say 'Hey assassins that want to hold me for ransom, I'm right here!'" Mitsuuki calmly reprimanded the Young Lord, but he still clutched onto the gun.
"I'm sick of the mistakes! I'm sick of people making mistakes around here, like you!" he pointed the gun to a young girl, no older than eighteen, who was likely a kitchen staff maid. "You didn't bow to me as you passed!"
"Sir, she was carrying at least fifty pounds of flour over her shoulder and couldn't see you. Don't be ridiculous," the butler went to take the gun away from him, but he fired before his hand could even grasp the weapon.
The girl, who had long since dropped the flour in fear, had her eyes squeeze shut and was trembling on the ground. She didn't feel any pain and cracked an eye open to see what happened.
Mirajane was standing before her, facing the raging Young Lord.
"Since when do you shoot at your own friends?!" Mira asked harshly, but the Young Lord was staring at her wide-eyed. Between the pointer and ring finger of her right hand was the bullet, still smoking, but there was not one wound on the girl. "Guns are meant to protect yourself and others in emergencies, not shoot at innocents!" she dropped the bullet and jerked the weapon out of his hands, handing it to Mitsuuki who put it behind his back.
"How did-" the Young Lord wasn't even halfway through his question before Mira promptly slapped him, leaving a bright red mark on his left cheek. "How dare you!"
"How dare you!" Mira growled, the aura around her getting eerily dark. "You don't shoot at your comrades! You never harm them, you never even think of harming them! Do you understand what the word 'comrade' means?!"
All the Young Lord could do was gulp and nod.
"You hold your comrades dear and protect them! Anyone who can't understand that is less than scum."
He couldn't understand how this small woman before him could make him so utterly terrified. It was like she was a whole different person, the way her eyes glared at him. Mira turned around to the girl and helped her up.
"Are you ok?"
The girl quickly nodded, breathlessly whispering her thanks over and over.
"Don't mention it. Would you like some help with those bags?" she motioned to the five bags of flour on the ground.
"No, thank you, I need to improve my strength! My dearest apologizes, Young Lord," she bowed to him and Mirajane before quickly picking up the bags of flour and walking away.
"She's just a young girl. If you can harm her so easily over a silly little thing like bowing, then you're a monster," Mira clenched her teeth as the words came out before taking a deep breath and speaking again, "You never told me your name, Young Lord. Might I ask what it is?" she had her normal sweet demeanor back, smiling at him slightly.
"His name is Akio, Miss Mirajane," Mitsuuki spoke up for the Young Lord, who appeared to be at a loss for words.
"Akio, hm? If you don't pull any more stunts like this one, we'll get along just fine these next few weeks."
Akio couldn't understand how she looked so innocent, so cheery, so beautiful, so angelic after what just happened. The frightening aura she was producing earlier had completely vanished, and she was smiling at him as if nothing had happened. She didn't look dangerous, which is exactly what made her lethal. Now he understood why she was chosen for this job.
After all, who'd expect the country's favorite pin-up model to be a deadly body guard?
Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ... how did I do?
I really want to know you opinions on this, so please leave a review!
To anyone who wants to know why I gave Mira the ability to re-quip: It's probably not that uncommon of a skill to have. Makarov can do it, and the only thing that makes it special for Erza is that she can change her armor. It's just her clothes and belongings, not armor and weapons like Erza. So you can hate on it if you want, but it's convenient and it I actually wouldn't be surprised if she has it for real. Although she can probably change her outfits with transformation magic ... you know what I already wrote it out and finally got it the way I want it, so we're going with the re-quip idea.
Let me know your thoughts on the OCs so far! I don't make OCs too often, so I hope I did alright.
Everyone who is wondering about Laxus: Look, he's not going to appear for a bit. This story is about Mirajane, not about Mirajane x Laxus. Although we'll see moments, it won't be until later on. I'm going to try and make the wait worth it though, I promise.
See you guys next time!