Author's Note: Woah, long chapter alert! :0 X3 Seriously though, you have no idea how difficult it was for me to write this at first, I swear it was like trudging through quicksand to get to the interesting part XD Though, I will admit, it was totally worth it by the time I got to the end X3 To celebrate 100, yes 100, total reviews, I gave you guys a little present from me at the end of this chapter ;3 You guys are so freakin' amazing, and I love you all XD Continue to review and let me know what you thought, so that eventually we can reach 200! ;D
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"Kakashi?!" She squeaked, eyes wide with the shock of discovering the man in her own world. How could this have happened? They hadn't been touching when she'd activated the circle, it should be impossible for him to be sitting there. Yet, her eyes weren't deceiving her. At least she couldn't call it a dream of some sort, which gave her a little solace.
"Erza…?" He blinked in response, rubbing his head as he looked around at the confused gazes that had fixed themselves upon him. Considering the outfits they were both wearing, it was only expected for them to be confused.
The next minute, Erza found herself being squeezed into a tight hug, and glanced up to find Natsu grinning widely, "Who cares, we're just glad to have you back! I knew Levy could do it." He said proudly, giving the word-wizard a thumbs up.
Levy blinked before shaking her head to correct the dragon slayer, "I didn't crack the code yet… Erza got here on her own."
Erza nodded, pushing Natsu away after a moment, "She's right, I found a magic circle in the realm I was transferred to, and was able to find my way back by incorporating my own magical energy into it. As for whom this is, his name is Kakashi Hatake… He helped me find my way back home, and I owe him a lot. Therefore, I wish that you will all welcome him and show him Fairy Tail's hospitality until we can find a way to send him back home." She announced, quickly standing up to address everyone before holding out a hand to help him up. She was smiling, but on the inside she was beginning to panic. She'd have to speak with the Master about this.
Kakashi took the offer, immediately letting go of her hand once he was standing again. He was watching them warily, examining Natsu closely as he gave his best false smile. "You must be Natsu, she spoke of you a lot." He explained, earning only a grin in response.
"I am the strongest wizard you'll ever meet, I'm not surprised." He boasted, pointing his thumb at his chest before earning a knock on the head from Gray.
"Whatever, idiot. I'm obviously the strongest." He argued, his shirt already missing as if he were preparing for a fight with the pink-haired wizard.
"Shut up, pervert! Why don't you keep your clothes on for a change?" He growled in response, but before Gray could respond Erza moved to stop them.
"Enough Gray, Natsu." She ordered, rubbing her temples in exasperation as Lucy appeared to great the wizard.
"Erza! Thank goodness you made your way back; those two have been at it since you left." She grinned, rolling her eyes at the two wizards are she gave Erza a small wave.
Greetings were quickly exchanged, and the red-haired wizard found herself beginning to lose herself in the feeling of having a family again, forgetting about all the panic and stress that came with finding out Kakashi had followed her. She was complete for the first time since she left, and realized that no matter how comfortable she got in the ninja's world, it would never be home for her.
"Erza!" A happy shout was heard, and the Master himself finally appeared at the bar, his staff in hand as he grinned at one of his favorite guild members.
Erza bowed with an easy smile, "Master, I've finally returned and I must say I'm very glad to be back with the guild." She said, and Kakashi quickly moved to stand at her side as he realized that this was their leader.
The Copy Ninja was surprised at the man's appearance, finding it hard to keep from laughing as he examined the small Guild Master and his apparel.
Makarov smiled, "It's great to have you back as well, Erza. I expect a full report of everything that took place, including who this strange man is and why you're both wearing those weird outfits."
Glancing down, Erza found she had almost forgotten she was wearing the ninja garb. Immediately changing into her usual breastplate and skirt, she quickly entered the story and told it from the beginning, choosing to leave out the date to Kakashi's disappointment.
"I see." The old man nodded, thinking silently for a moment as he considered their next plan of action. "I want you to return to this shop owner and question him about how to return Kakashi to his own realm. He disappeared when you did, but I suppose he might've returned by this point."
Erza gave her agreement, "Yes, I was already considering that course. I will use force if necessary, though I hope it won't turn to that. I wish to show Kakashi Magnolia City first, though, if it's alright with you, Master."
Kakashi and Makarov were both surprised by her request, and by the time the Master had given his approval, he still hadn't fully recovered. Here he'd thought that she would have been glad to get rid of him, considering how much happier she had seemed. Not to mention he was beginning to grow slightly irritated by the pink-haired guy. They didn't seem romantically attached, but something about the kid made Kakashi not like him.
Grabbing his hand, Erza smiled and began to lead him out of the doors, grabbing the book along the way. She was careful not to open it, and didn't even notice the looks of shock that everyone was giving her as they gaped in silence. No one dared to say anything, but as soon as she shut the front door the noise level instantly increased as people tried to make sense of what had just happened.
"Did Erza just hold someone's hand?" Macao questioned in disbelief, and Lucy gave a tiny nod, her own eyes wide as they filled with stars.
"What if she likes him? That would be so cute!" She squealed, holding her hands together as she imagined their wedding.
"She's in looovve." Happy spoke up from where he hovering beside Natsu, earning even more discussion from the guild members.
Meanwhile, Erza immediately led Kakashi to a clothing store so that he could find something that would make him stick out a little less. They received many strange stares, but the wizard simply ignored them, still holding Kakashi's hand as she walked into the shop.
Not even two seconds upon entering the store, Erza had grabbed multiple outfits and forced Kakashi into the changing room, telling him to quickly choose an outfit he liked. After a few moments of waiting as Erza began to grow impatient, Kakashi finally stepped out of the changing room wearing a totally new outfit.
He was wearing a long black coat with white trimming the edges over a simple, black, form-fitting shirt and loose black pants that he had tucked into black boots. His mask was still in place, connected to the shirt so that no skin showed. It was very similar to his ninja outfit, actually. It looked like he had simply replaced his Jonin vest with a coat, as well as his ninja sandals for normal boots. He had placed an eye-patch over his sharingan, his headband now tied as a belt for his pants. Believe it or not, less people would question the eye-patch.
Erza examined him carefully, using the pretense that she needed to make sure he would blend in so that she could inconspicuously check him out. She had to admit he looked good without the vest, though he would probably look even better without the shirt… Stopping herself before her thoughts could go any further, she gave Kakashi a nod of approval. "Perfect, I never would have guessed you didn't belong in Magnolia. Or Fairy Tail, for that matter." She smiled, gesturing for him to follow her.
Kakashi smiled as he did as he was told, liking the sound of it. It may not be home, but in all honesty, he didn't truly have a home anymore. Sure, he would miss his Genin, Gai, and all of his other friends, but they weren't necessarily family to him. Not the way her guild was to her, anyway. If he couldn't get back, he might not mind it so much… He could make a new name for himself, and start over. Maybe things would work out better here. Shaking his head to keep from getting his hopes up, the ninja glanced over to Erza as he tried to figure out where she was taking him.
They stopped in front of a quaint little shop, and Erza wasted no time in leading him through the doors and to the counter. It took him two seconds to realize where they were. In the glass display cases sat various cakes and sweets, and the shop owner didn't seem surprised to see the red-head and greeted her with a big smile. "Erza! It's been some time since you've visited, I was beginning to worry about you." He said, earning a laugh from the wizard.
"I'm sorry about that. I would like to order a cake for my friend here so that he may get a taste of true heaven, and I would like to order an extra thirty cakes as well, if that is alright with you." The cake maker sweatdropped, seeming unsurprised by her order as Kakashi gaped at her. Thirty cakes? He really hoped they weren't all for her. She'd kill herself soon, overdosing on sweets like that.
"Alright, I will have them ready for you within the week." The owner nodded, saying goodbye to them both as he headed to get started on the cakes.
Now finished with her business there, Erza gestured for the ninja to follow her once more. Clutching the book as she made her way back to the shop, she began to run through the questions in her mind so that she wouldn't hesitate to ask them. First, she would demand to know what had happened to send her to the Leaf. Then she would probably wring his neck until he gave them an answer on how to get Kakashi back.
As she reached the shop, she noticed that it seemed dreadfully quiet and was still in a horrible state of disrepair. It seemed that they had discovered her disappearance before they could complete the mission. Heading into the shop, Erza glanced around, quickly scanning the area for the old man from earlier, "Hello?" She called loudly as a sword materialized her into hand, just in case.
The room was silent for a mere moment before a sound was heard, a woman appearing on the front counter, sitting as a man stood at either side. Upon closer inspection, one could see a matching symbol on each of the men's arms and on the girls neck, displaying a mix between a skull and some vines.
The woman smiled at them, "Thank you very much for returning Father's book, but I'll be taking it from here. Hand it over and tell me how you got it to work, and you're both free to go." She explained with a shrug, her black hair tightly woven into a braid that reached her waist. Her eyes were a shade of violet, which was matched on her outfit consisting of a black dress with a violet colored belt.
Erza narrowed her eyes at her, knowing instantly that this was a dark guild they were dealing with, "Considering your father didn't want you knowing, I'd say it would be in my best interest to keep quiet." She argued, unaware of how the book actually worked at this point but figured she could bluff, "Who are you, and what dark guild decided it would be smart to come into Fairy Tail's territory?"
The woman grinned, "Turns out the Queen of the Fairies is just as feisty as the stories say. Well, Erza Scarlet, my name is Natalya and I'm the current leader of the dark guild, Bonegarde. These are my comrades, Efrain and Gavin. We don't want to start a war, but we'd be alright with it if you won't cooperate. Isn't that right, boys?"
The one she had called Efrain smirked, his teeth glinting with an odd light as it took Erza a moment to realize they were made of pure silver, "That's right. Give us the info we want, and we won't bug you anymore. Sounds like a fair trade to me." His gray hair hung in his silver hued eyes, causing Kakashi to wonder if he should've been named 'metal-head' instead.
The one named Gavin remained silent, his dark green eyes watching intently as if anticipating a fight from them. He had blonde hair, leaving him to be the most average looking of the three. Kakashi was watching silently, knowing it wasn't his place to get involved in the guild politics, but wanting nothing more than to shield Erza from them.
Looking at her, he silently waited for his queue, body stiff as he prepared for a battle. His fingers itched to grab his kunai, but he didn't want to drag attention to himself and ruin whatever plan she might be forming.
The wizard was running through every possible plan she could come up with, wondering why she wanted this book so much. Did it contain powers that Erza hadn't realized yet? You couldn't tell by reading it, seeing as the book was blank, and she wasn't even sure how she had activated the thing in the first place. Could Natalya know something she didn't?
Erza began to glow as her armor was replaced, appearing in her flame empress armor as she pointed the red blade at Natalya, "If you want this book, you will need to fight me for it. I am not afraid of you or your men, for no dark guild will ever be able to match a warrior who fights for what's right!"
Kakashi was surprised, as were the dark guild members as their eyes widened slightly. After a moment, Natalya laughed. "Very well, Erza." She said tauntingly, "I will except that challenge. However, I will need some time to prepare. If you change your mind, return to this place and put the book back on the shelves. You have only twenty-four hours to do so. If there is no book there, we will attack, and your precious guild members will perish. Oh, and you're not gonna find the old man. He's currently being held back at our base. Feel free to rescue him, if you can find us." She smirked, and in the next instant they had all disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a flurry of purple flower petals.
Erza sighed and relaxed once more, or was as relaxed as one could be in that situation, and switched back to her usual armor. With a frown, she examined the messy store and realized that it wasn't the mess it had been in before. It was obvious that someone had searched the area looking for something, and now she knew what.
"I need to let the Master know what has occurred." She said simply, looking up at Kakashi with a grim expression.
He nodded, grabbing her arm before she could walk by him and head out the door. "Don't worry, everything will be fine… I may not know much about 'guilds' and 'wizards', but I know that it will be alright. I don't care if you hand the book over, I can stay-"
Erza cut him off, her eyes full of determination as she looked at him, not bothering to move his hand away, "Kakashi, this isn't about whether you're staying here or not. This is about the safety of Fiore and my entire guild. We don't know the full extent of this books power, and we don't even know how it works. If a dark guild wants it this bad, we know it has powers we could only dream of. Until we're sure that everyone will be safe, this book remains at Fairy Tail. That's what a guild does; it protects the innocent no matter the cost."
He listened, watching her with complete admiration. Here was a girl that could stare death in the face and not blink an eye if it meant innocent people were safe, all while pigging out on strawberry cake and laughing at a bad joke. It was incredible, if he were honesty with himself.
Not giving it a second thought to prevent himself from chickening out, Kakashi leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, closing his visible eye as he felt her stiffen in shock. In only a second, she had relaxed and was returning the kiss, hand resting on his cheek lightly.
He swore there were fireworks going off somewhere, though it could have just been his heart making all of that noise. Oh well. He was way too happy right now to care.