Well it looks like I finally got this chapter done. Just one more chapter and this story will be complete :) For some of you, that may be a sad thing to hear. Any who, hope you all enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail
`tsuginomai
A girl with long brown hair came out from the spot she was hiding which was on the top floor behind a large box of explosives.
"Cana. How long have you been there?" Erza asked, a bit surprised at the sudden appearance of one of her guild teammates.
"This whole time. I've been following you guys ever since you all left the guild. Man, you people sure travel slow though. It felt like a month traveling with you guys through that desert," she replied, moaning in her last sentence.
"So you've been following us this whole time without letting yourself get caught? Did Master send or something? Why would he…"
"Never mind about that. Did you just say that Naruto was a ninja?" Natsu questioned, seeming like he didn't even care about the fact that Cana followed them the whole time.
"Yes... A ninja."
"Wow! A ninja! I can't believe it!" Taking his scarf, he wrapped it around his mouth. "Nin-nin!"
"Nin-nin!" Happy repeated, flying over beside him.
For some reason, Naruto completely forgot that Happy was there with them the whole time.
"Well you two seem excited. What if I tell you that he's actually a bad ninja," Cana proclaimed. She faced her direction towards Naruto. "Looks like I've caught you… ninja." She then jumped down from the second floor.
"Naruto. What is she talking about?" Erza questioned, facing her attention towards Naruto.
"Well you see, I am a ninja…"
"Nin-nin!" Natsu interrupted.
"… But I'm not bad. Honestly. So I have no clue on what she's referring to."
"Oh really? Then can you explain the fact that the Fiore palace guards are currently roaming around the city looking for you?" Cana took out a piece of paper she kept in her small blue bag and lifted it up so that everyone in the room was able to see. Observing it closely, Naruto saw his face on the paper with the words Wanted right at the top. His jaw literally dropped.
"Wh-What is this? I-I'm wanted?"
"Of course you are. You're the only person that came out from that magic hole in the middle of the city. The other side of the hole was known to contain very dangerous people from other worlds. Now, just turn yourself in without making any fuss. I don't want to make things difficult for the both of us.
"But…" Taking a look around the room, he saw how Natsu and Erza's facial expressions changed and they each had a look as if they were completely betrayed. Same goes for Lucy and Gray.
"You guys. You can't expect to believe this right? I mean… yes I'm a ninja and not some mage. It doesn't mean that I'm the bad guy though." No response. Naruto thought he would never have gotten caught since everything that was happening was going pretty smoothly... well, until now. Though he had so many reasons as to how he would have never gotten himself caught if it weren't for the brunette chic, he decided to push those thoughts away for later. He turned his head back around to face towards Cana. "I'm sorry. But I'm not turning myself in for a reason as stupid as that."
Cana sighed, "I guess I have no choice." Reaching into her bag, she took out what it looked like cards and held it up into the air.
"W-Wait!"
Before Cana was about to unleash some sort of magic towards Naruto, Erza intervened between the two.
"…Isn't there any other way we can solve this? Why don't we just take him to the Fiore Palace and explain to them that he's not bad but just-"
"Erza, you're taking Naruto's side on this?" Gray butted in, not letting Erza even finish her sentence. The tone of his voice seemed to be a bit shaky.
"I know how you feel Erza, but wouldn't it be best if we just turn him in?" Lucy whispered.
A saddened expression came across Naruto's face. Looks like they've never trusted me after all…
"...How… How can you guys say such things? We were with him the whole time weren't we? What has he done to make himself look like the bad guy?" Erza retorted, "Didn't he save us from those dark guild members? After doing such a deed, why would we let him be taken away?"
The saddened expression that was currently on Naruto's face disappeared right after Erza said what she said to them.
"I'm sorry Erza. Rules are rules," Cana stated, crossing her arms.
"So what. Do-"
"No offense Erza, but I thought you were better than this…"
"Come on guys stop fighting."
"…"
"...And here I thought you would of just went along with this. There must be something about this boy that's making you act like this. More the reason to-"
"Tch!"
After hearing a sound which sounded like it came from Natsu, they all focused their attention on him since they knew he hasn't uttered a word the past few minutes of arguing.
"Why…
Why do you guys have to fight over something like this…...
I just don't get it...…
Just because Naruto came from who knows where...…
Doesn't mean he's bad!"
Good job to describe Konoha as a 'who knows where' place Natsu, Naruto thought.
Cana turned to look at Erza then at Natsu. "I had a feeling a few of you would disagree to this. I guess I have no choice." Using the cards she kept in her hands, she threw two of them on the ground. Smoke suddenly covered up the entire room.
Naruto on the other hand new that Cana was aiming for him. He readied himself for any attack that might come at him, but it was no use.
"Found you," Cana mumbled to herself when she spotted Naruto in the midst of the smoke. Using the last card she had in her hand, the card magically made ropes appear all around Naruto's body.
Crap! My hands are tied up as well!
"Looks like you're all tied up. Better get you out of here before Natsu and Erza try to do anything to stop me." With that, Cana took hold of Naruto's body, not knowing how much he even weighed, and jumped out the nearest window. The window wasn't open so the glass ended up shattering all over the place when Cana jumped right through it.
"What was that?" Hearing the sound of glass shattering, it had to mean only one thing. Natsu raised his nose up to take a sniff of the room. Though it was pretty difficult to indicate anything because of the smoke, Natsu knew that Naruto's presence was gone.
"Naruto!"
After the smoke dispersed away, all that was left was an empty room with just the knocked out dark guild members and just regular Team Natsu.
"Where's Naruto?" In a daze, Erza looked around the room.
"Cana took him. They're probably heading off to Fiore right now," Natsu replied, an angered tone in his voice. Natsu pounded his hand against the nearest wall. "We need to get him back."
"Natsu…"
"Though we just met, it feels like I've known him longer than that… there's just something inside of him that makes him a very special person."
Erza nodded in agreement. "Same."
Natsu laughed. "Pssh. You probably just like him…"
Erza blushed at Natsu's remark. "Wh-What did you say?"
"Anyway, we should probably head out now before he gets put in jail." Natsu looked at both Lucy and Gray before he made any course of action. "What about you two? Just moments ago, it seemed like you wanted Naruto to be taken in."
Lucy and Gray both looked at each other before replying.
"To tell you the truth, I was actually just afraid. We just met so I never really knew much about Naruto. When Cana was saying all of those things about him, I thought they were actually the truth…" Lucy admitted, "Now that I see it… I regret saying and thinking all those things though. Naruto wasn't a bad person at all. He was just a bit unusual though. Probably because of the fact that he's from another world. That really shouldn't be my mindset though."
Natsu nodded and faced his direction on Gray. "Gray?"
"Wh-What Lucy said…" Gray replied,turning his head around elsewhere.
Erza couldn't help but smile at her teammate's sudden change of heart. "Alright everyone. Let's head on back. We're going to save Naruto no matter what price we're going to have to pay later on."
"Aye!"
~x~
Few days later…
"I'm back master!" Cana shouted as she walked right inside the Fairy Tail Guild with Naruto sitting tied up in a wagon she was pulling from behind. Everyone from Fairy Tail seemed to be present at the Guild which made it a bit awkward for both Cana and Naruto.
"Welcome back. Looks like you caught the ninja as well. I'm impressed… and good timing. I sent Mirajane to fetch some palace guards for me. They will be here shortly."
"Alright then." Taking the wagon to one side of the guild, she took a moment to look at Naruto's face. "Looks like I'm going to have to keep watch on you for a bit. To tell you the truth though… You are a bit handsome. I would even probably date you. If you only you weren't a bad ninja…"
"Thanks…" Naruto rolled his eyes. Now just get me out of here.
Naruto was surprised to hear the sound of footsteps coming from outside the guild door after a few minutes have gone bye. Please let it be Natsu and the others… please let it be Natsu and the others… he pleaded. Sure enough, the people outside the door turned out to be the Fiore guards. The doors of the guild opened and about three guards walked right inside with Mirajane following from behind.
"Now where is the ninja?"One of the guards asked.
"Let me see. Oh! Over there," Mirajane replied, pointing a finger at the wooden wagon that was placed on the left side of where they were at.
Naruto could tell that the three guards sweat dropped at the fact that the person they were after was tied up, sitting inside some wooden wagon. They all then approached the wagon, carefully examining it before they took Naruto out of it.
Looks like this is it…
When Naruto was suddenly about to give up, he saw four familiar faces kick open the doors of the guild and barge right in.
"Where is he? Oh, there he is. Ahem. Stop right there. I won't be letting you guys take him to jail. Not today," Natsu stated.
Natsu…
"Natsu! Erza!" Mirajane shouted their names. She was still standing outside of the guild, looking like she knew that something bad was going to happen sooner or later.
"What do you all think you're doing?" the guild Master questioned, jumping down from the table he was sitting on.
"I'm sorry Gramps, but I ain't letting them take Naruto in," Natsu replied.
"Erza? You too?"
"He hasn't done anything wrong Master. Sure he came out from some mysterious hole. That doesn't mean he's bad though," Erza remarked.
"Master Makarov." Not even caring about what was going on, the guards seemed like they were just about ready to leave and take Naruto with them.
The master stood there motionless at the spot he was standing at.
"Master?"
"T-Take him away…" the Master proclaimed.
"Gramps!"
"Master!"
It was no use. Their master didn't seem to be persuaded by their words. Having to other choice but to fight, all of them blocked the front door. Natsu was the first person to make a move. Taking a few steps forward, he didn't hesitate to breathe fire right onto the guards. He made sure to not burn any of his fellow guild members or Naruto as he did. After all the fire diminished, all that was left was the palace guards lying motionless on the ground.
"Well that was easier than I thought," Natsu admitted.
"Yeah. For you. I ALMOST GOT BURNED!" Naruto shouted, rolling over to where Natsu and the other were. The ropes he was tied with and the wagon he was in ended up being engulfed by Natsu's flames.
"My bad Naruto…" Natsu apologized, slightly laughing to himself.
"Well, we're glad you're safe," Erza asserted, slightly laughing to herself as well at the sight on Naruto rolling on the floor.
Natsu and the others were so busy at rejoicing on how happy they were to get Naruto back that they didn't even notice their Master walk up right behind him.
"You guys…"
"Master!" they all said together once they spun their heads around.
Before the Master was able to say anything else, Erza spoke up. "Master. I'm sorry. Blame me for all of this. Just, please don't take Naruto in. Try to understand," Erza implored.
"Hmmm."
"Come on Gramps. I'll make sure to fix up all the damage I did to the guild," Natsu added in, taking a look at what his flames caused to the guild flooring.
"He hasn't done anything wrong. Since when did outsiders become an enemy to us Master? Think about it."
They continued to wait for their master's reply.
"Please Gramps?"
After waiting a while for their master's response, he finally replied, "I completely understand each of your feelings. I guess I won't take him in."
"Really? Thank you Gramps!" Nastu exclaimed.
The master replied with only a smile. "You brats better repair everything like you said though…" he muttered under his breathe. From somewhere around the room, Cana jumped right in into their conversation. She seemed like she was a bit drunk at the moment. "Seriously Master? *Hic* I thought... I was suppose to get Naruto so you can take him in... what a waste..."
"Now now... Gray! Take Cana to the other side of the guild will ya'?"
Well I'm glad everything turned out alright, Naruto thought, Looks like everything is going to be just fine from now on… I'll be able to hang out with them without having to hide anything or cause any problems…
W-Wait a second…
"Master Makarov," Naruto quoted.
"Yes my boy?"
"You know how I came out of that hole that's located in the middle of the city right?"
"Of course I know that. Why?"
"When exactly is that portal going to be closed?"
The master thought for a moment. "Last time I heard which was an hour ago, the portal was going to be closed completely two hours after."
"Wait a minute. So if… an hour and fifty minutes have gone by already…" Erza started, looking up at the clock on the wall.
"…Then that means…" Nastu continued on.
"You only have ten minutes to get back to your world before you'll end up staying in our world forever."
"WHAAATTT!?"
Will Naruto make it in time to return back to Konoha, or will he be stuck in the land of mages forever? Stay tuned to find out what happens. Just one more chapter. I promise! Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I just wanted to say thanks to those for reading my story :)
`tsuginomai