Shen returns to the guild and is asked to go on a job.

Chapter 2 Start

Everyone in Fairy Tail was confused about Shen's sudden change in attitude, all except Natsu who was angered by Shen's remark as he left.

"Not worth his time? I bet I could beat him easily!" Natsu shouted.

"Shouting about it isn't going to help the matter." Lucy told him, hoping he would quiet down.

"Are you sure you never did anything that would make him hate you?" Erza asked.

Natsu finally sat down "I never even met the guy! How should I know what he has against me?"

"It isn't usual for someone to hate someone when meeting them for the first time." Gray pointed out "Think hard about it. Did you meet him when you were younger?"

"No!" Natsu shouted "I already said I never met this guy!"

The doors opened and Shen walked in, his briefcase not with him now, but he still wore the blue jacket with white fur lining. His hatred of Natsu was no longer on his face as he walked to the request board, looking it over. Lucy got up and went over to him.

"Shen?"

He turned and saw her and smiled "How may I help you?" He asked.

"What was with the sudden change of attitude towards Natsu?"

His smile disappeared "Natsu Dragneel. I hope you forgive me, but I will not give you my reasons."

"Did he do something when you two met before?"

Shen shook his head "Me and Natsu had never met before today."

"T-Then why do you-" She was cut off as Shen place a finger over her lips.

"We never met before, but that's all I will say. I will not reveal my reasons. They are my own."

Lucy nodded, knowing it was useless and sat at the table beside Gray and she sighed "Shen confirms it. He said he and Natsu had never met until today."Natsu stood up and before anyone could stop him he started walking towards Shen. Erza got up followed Natsu but didn't reach him in time. As Natsu came within a foot of Shen he turned and met Natsu's glare.

"What do you want Natsu?" He asked in his same flat, hate filled tone.

"I want you to tell me what the hell is wrong with you! Why do you hate me so much if we never met before."

"Like I already told Lucy, my reasons are my own." Shen told him "If I wouldn't tell Lucy what makes you think I would ever tell you?"

"You have no reason to hate me then!" Natsu said his fists igniting.

"Do you really intend to start a fight with me Natsu?" He asked "All you will manage to do is make a fool of yourself when I defeat you." Natsu's anger took over and he swung one of his flame covered fists at Shen. Shen smiled as he grabbed Natsu's wrist with one hand and his elbow with his other hand and flipped him over his back and into the ground. Shen moved back from Natsu as he got to his knees then feet.

"You bastard!" Natsu ran at him and swung his fist at him again and Shen just side stepped.

"Natsu, Stop this!" Makarov's called out before a giant fist hit him onto the ground. Shen looked at Makarov who was standing on the second floor, his fist tripled in size due to his magic. Makarov turned to look at Shen "You and Natsu need to work on your problems. Erza?"

"Yes master?"

"You and the rest of Team Natsu are going to take a job and you are going to bring Shen along."

"Understood." Erza said as Makarov removed his fist from Natsu.

"Makarov, I can't accept this!" Shen said, a little annoyance in his voice.

"Gramps are you crazy!? Natsu shouted, at the same time as Shen.

"You will do it or be punished!" Makarov said, angrily and firmly and Natsu stopped, but Shen didn't.

"Any punishment is better then going on a job with this idiot!"

Natsu restrained himself as Shen said that and Makarov narrowed his eyes on Shen.

"You seem to hate Natsu more then anything. If you give me the reason why then I won't make you go on the job." A flash of fury and rage flashed in Shen's eyes before he looked down.

"Fine." He said through clenched teeth "I'll go on the job!"

Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Erza, Wendy, Happy, Carla and Shen were in the back of a horse drawn cart. Natsu was suffering from motion sickness while Wendy tried to heal him. There was silence until Erza decided to talk.

"Shen, you're hiding something from us." She said in a firm voice.

"I am?" Shen said in his normal tone, but if Natsu talked to him there was no doubt that he would use his hateful tone again.

"Don't act stupid. You hate Natsu for reasons unknown when you never met him and when the master told you to tell him your reason you gave in fairly easily."

Shen averted his eyes upwards "I did. My reasons are my own and I see no point in telling others of them."

"If you told us we may be able to help fix it between the two of you."

"The reason is beyond fixing. If I told you it would be useless." 'or make you despise me' Shen added mentally.

"You can't say for sure until you try." Gray added "We're your guild mates, what can we do to make you trust us?"

"Nothing. I am the only one that should ever know my reasons."

"Have you hated Natsu since before you met him today?" Lucy asked

"Yes."

"Have you told anyone that you hated him though, like your family."

Shen turned to Lucy and gave her a small smile "I have no family. My dad left me and my mom died a year ago."

"Oh..." Lucy muttered "s-sorry to hear that."

"I'm over it now. So to answer your question there is no one living , but myself, that knows why I hate him."

"No one living?" Wendy questioned.

"My mom did know." He answered. The cart suddenly stopped and the driver called out to them.

"This is far as I'm going to go." They got off the cart, Erza lifting Natsu off and placing him on the ground since Wendy's magic proven ineffective.

"Thanks for bringing us this far." Erza told the driver and he just nodded as he went back the way they came. They were about halfway up a mountain, surrounded by many other mountains,

"What is our job anyway?" Shen asked, leaning against the mountain

"Rouge Wizards have been attacking the nearby town recently and have been seen around this mountain. We have been hired to defeat them. The reward is 95,000 Jewel."

"Let's go and beat those jerks!" Natsu said, suddenly up and ready again.

"As always, you never stay down long." Gray said.

"But you always to fail to motion sickness."

Shen looked at Wendy "So motion sickness only affects him, not all Dragon Slayers?" he asked her.

"He seems to be the only one effected. I never experienced it and I don't think Gajeel did either."

"Gajeel Redfox. The Iron Dragon Slayer. Three Dragon Slayers in one guild is pretty impressive."

Wendy smiled "Me and Gajeel were at different guilds before Fairy Tail."

"Fairy Tail seems to be attract people to it."

"Why did you join Fairy Tail?" She asked.

"I joined because I was sick of wandering around and wanted to use my magic for good." Shen said, using his lie yet again.

"That's a good reason." Wendy said

"All right." Erza said, calling Wendy's and Shen's attention "We are going to trek up this mountain together, and if nothing is found we will spilt up and locate the rouge Wizards. Be ready to fight at all times, they could attack at any time." They started their trek.

They had made some progress, but the mountain was too tall to get to the top in the one night. They set up camp for the night and would continue at first light tomorrow.

"We need to take watches so we don't get attacked." Erza said.

"I'll take the first watch." Shen volunteered and no one complained.

Everyone got into their sleeping bags/tent and started to try and sleep as Shen laid on the ground looking at the night sky.

"What do I plan to do?" Shen asked himself "Do I plan to stay in Fairy Tail and work there until I die?" He shook his head sitting up "Knowing my luck it will be discovered soon enough and I'll have to 'vanish' yet again." Shen's head suddenly started to throb with pain and after a few minutes it faded "It's been a while since I used it. I need to use it every so often or my body is damaged." Shen sat against a rock for the next 2 hours or so, lost in his thoughts. His watch should have been over a few minutes ago, but he didn't bother waking anyone up, he wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. As he decided to wake someone else up and try get some rest a throwing knife went right in front of his eyes and into the rock. He looked in the direction the knife came from and saw nothing. He reached into his jacket and produced a steel dagger, with a hilt wrapped in gold cloth and four rubies on each side of it.

"I know you're there. I am not one you can easily trick. Reveal yourselves!" Shen called into the darkness.

"As you wish." Suddenly, as if the sun had risen 5 people had appeared a few yards ahead of him. Three of them had cloaks covering their faces, but the two in the front did not. One had a mask of white on half his face, and was a short, chubby man, the one eyes showing blue, and his hair was covered by a hood. The other one had a mask of black on the other said of his face and he towered over the other one, and the one eye that was exposed was brown and locked onto Shen.

"Are you the rouge wizards attacking the nearby town?"

"You could say that." The black masked one said in a raspy voice.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"You are from?"

"Fairy Tail." He responded pulling the collar of his shirt down a bit to reveal his mark.

"Those your guild mates behind you?" The white masked one asked.

"They are." He said taking a step back.

"You are trying to get close enough to awaken them, aren't you?"

"Maybe, it's not like you can stop me from that distance!" Shen said as he turned and ran, smacking right into something and fell to the ground." Shen looked up to see what he hit and saw nothing "What the..."

"I control the dark" The black masked one said "the shadows of every living thing, the darkness that comes from the night I control, it all."

"You use the darkness for your magic." Shen said, understanding "The thing that is blocking me is a wall of darkness, yet it is not dense enough to be seen, but dense enough to stand up to attacks."

"That's exactly right my friend." The white masked one said "And I control-"

"The light. The light from any source, and the light that comes from the day, you control it all?"

The white masked man stared at him clearly annoyed "That was my line."

Shen smiled, his carefree nature, showing even when he was about to be in a battle "You're my enemy. I'm not going to let you do as you wish."

"What your name?" The white masked one asked.

"I refuse to tell until I hear yours."

"I am Hikari and my friend here" He said gesturing to the black masked one "is Kurai!"

"I am Shen. One of the Fairy Tail members sent here to capture you." 'One light magic user, One dark magic user...what do the other three use?' Shen asked himself mentally.

"We will see about that. Kurai, you have the advantage here."

"Yes." He said walking forward.

"Not all going to attack me at the same time?"

"We have some honour." Hikari said.

"Whatever." Shen said giving a glance to the sleeping members of Fairy Tail.

"Pay attention to your foe." Kurai said before a magic circle appeared just in front of Shen. Spears of darkness flew from the circle. One caught Shen in the left shoulder, but he pulled it out and used it to stop the others before it disappeared from his hand. There was a fairy large wound in his shoulder but he ignored it as stood eyes locked on his enemy.

"Do you only have that dagger to use or do you have magic to use?"

"I have magic. I jut chose to not use it." Shen said as he walked closer to his enemy.

"Then you chose to die." The man rose his hands up and to his sides "Knifes Of Eternal Night, Fly!" Shen could make out the shapes of knifes going through the darkness and he smiled as he used his speed to avoid them and even when it seemed one had hit him, it seemed to just slide off his skin. He closed the gap between the dark magic user and himself. Kurai drew a katana and slashed downwards at Shen. Shen rose his arm and tilted it at an angle and instead of the sword cutting into his skin it did slide off, knocking Kurai off balance. Shen grabbed the Dark magic user's throat and lifted him into the air.

"You shouldn't underestimate someone when you are unaware of their magic." he said to the other four as he tightened his grip on Kurai's throat, making him choke, and he tried to pry Shen's hands off.

"You think you can defeat us?" Hikari asked as he threw a dagger at Shen and he used Kurai as a shield then threw him at the other four. Shen jumped back and his head throbbed slightly.

"I guess now is as good a time as any." He said as his magic power increased.

"W-what is this?" Hikari asked helping Kurai up.

"You will see now!" Shen shouted.

The dawn had come and the Fairy Tail members started to awake. Erza sat up first in her sleeping bag and looked at the other and when she saw Natsu was still asleep she realized something was wrong. She turned and shook Gray and he woke up quickly.

"Is something wrong Erza?" He asked noticing her expression.

"Were you woken up by Shen for Guard duty?"

He shook his head and realized as well "I was on second watch..." He looked around "Shen's not here!"

"Wake up Natsu." She said going to shake Lucy awake and explained before waking Wendy up and doing the same. Once they were all awake and up Erza spoke to them.

"Shen seems to not have awoken Gray for guard duty so we all slept through the night and Shen seems to not be around the site."

"That idiot! What was he thinking not waking anyone up!" Natsu shouted.

"We need to try and find him..." Wendy said.

"Um...guys..." Happy called from one side of the camp site " I think you should come here..." The other came over and found a man's body on the mountain floor, with his neck twisted at an awkward angle. The man's neck was broken.

"What the...was this Shen's doing?" Gray asked staring at the body.

"He must have got attacked and went after the wizards." Erza said,

"What an idiot!" Gray said as they started to run now, hoping to find Shen. As they did they saw signs of battle. Rocks were destroyed, cut, melted, and various other ways, a little further up they found another body, this one's throat was slit and their stomach was ripped open, organs on the ground.

"Oh my gosh..." Wendy said covering her eyes.

"That's going overboard..." Gray muttered.

"...Let's continue." Erza said running faster then before and getting Wendy to use her magic to make them faster as well. After another 30 minutes they saw a figure sitting on the edge of the mountain. As they got closer they saw the blue coat.

"Shen!" Lucy called. He took a moment to react. He stood up and turned to them and they saw not only was his jacket torn almost to shreds, but his whole mid body was covered in blood, along with a dagger he held in his hand. They increased their speed and Natsu ran towards him and swung his fist. Shen nodded slightly as he made no move to move and Natsu's punch landed directly n his face, knocking him down. Shen lie there a moment before pushing himself up. The Fairy Tail members stood in front of him, no one sure of what to say.

Shen broke the silence as he rubbed where Natsu had hit "I deserved that."

"Are you an idiot!? Why did you chase them?!" Natsu shouted

Shen went quiet until Erza asked "Why did you chase them?"

"They attacked me, and I couldn't let them escape."

"You brutally killed two of them Shen!" Erza shouted "We were charged to capture them!"

"I did not mean to kill them. It just sort of happened."

"Just sort of happened?! One man's stomach was ripped open and his throat was slit! How does that just happen?" Gray shouted.

"Three of them can still be captured. Their two leaders are still alive."

Wendy broke in then "Shen how badly are you injured?"

Shen looked over his body "This isn't my blood."

"But your coat was almost cut to ribbons...you must have some injuries."

"I'm fine." Erza walked over to him and punched him in the head with an armored hand

"Let her treat your injuries, then we will finish the job that you started."

A look of annoyance flashed in Shen's eyes as he pulled what remained of coat off to reveal his white shirt was short sleeved.

Wendy gasped "H-How are your arms unharmed?" Shen's arms were basically clear. There were a few scratches but with the state his coat was in there should have been deep cuts and blood as well. The only wound that was visible was the one in his shoulder, a little blood coming from the wound.

"It was only my coat that was cut. My skin is fine." Shen said standing up again.

"A-At least let me heal the wound in your shoulder!" Wendy told him.

"I'm fine." Shen said pulling a roll of bandages out as he wrapped it around his shoulder "See?"

Erza looked at Shen suspiciously "All right...let's continue." She looked up "That cave is their hideout, right Shen?"

He nodded "Yes."

They started their way up and quickly reached the cave entrance. Erza took the lead, with Natsu behind her, Gray behind him, followed by Shen, then Lucy and finally Wendy, Happy and Carla. It didn't take long to find the last three mages. They were in the deepest part of the cave sitting against the wall. They seemed to exhausted to fight back and Shen walked from his spot in line and to Erza's side.

Hikari stared at him with wide eyes "Keep that monster away from us!" He shouted at Erza "If you do that we will come peacefully, just keep that heartless demon away from us!" Erza looked at Shen and whispered to him.

"Leave, and we will take them peacefully."

"Fine." He smirked at the wizards in front of him "Don't underestimate an opponent again." Shen left the cave.

They had returned to Magnolia and had received their reward. Shen was quiet most of the way, only responding to a few things said, and most of what he said was something to make Natsu even angrier with him. Once they got to the outside of the guild Erza stopped them.

"Shen. Tell us now, what are you hiding from us?"

"I am not hiding anything that I want you to know. Stay out of my business."

"We're part of your guild, You shouldn't be hiding anything from us."

"Stay out of my personal-" Shen was cut off as Natsu punched him suddenly, his fist aflame, through the guild doors, breaking them from their hinges.

"I am sick of your fucking attitude!" Natsu shouted at him. As Shen pulled himself up the whole guild was watching, surprised by someone being smashed through the open doors. Shen got to his feet and threw his torn coat down.

"You just made the worst mistake of your life Natsu Dragneel."

"Bring it on!" Natsu smiled smugly.

The guild came from the guild, excited by the fight that was about to take place. Shen suddenly ran, and because of his amazing speed Natsu couldn't react as he appeared in front of him and uppercut him, sending him into the sky. Natsu flipped in the air and took a breath.

"Roar Of The Fire Dragon!" Natsu unleashed the flames and Shen made no move to avoid them as the fire engulfed him. The fire cleared and Shen stood there, completely unharmed.

"Is that all the Fire Dragon Slayer can do? You wanted to see my magic before? Well here it is!" Shen shouted as his whole body burst into flames "Flame Armor!"

"Fire magic?! He's a fire mage!" Lucy said surprised that Shen burst into flames.

"But against the Fire Dragon Slayer..." Wendy muttered.

"He has no chance of winning." Erza said flatly.

Natsu smirked "Fire? You think fire can defeat me?"

"This is an advanced fire magic. Let's see if your Dragon Slayer Magic can handle it."

"Interesting. I'm all fired up now." Natsu ran at him "Iron Fist Of The Fire Dragon!" his fist connected with Shen's chest, but it seemed to do nothing to him. Shen smiled in the cover of his flames and he grabbed Natsu around the neck and slammed him down into the ground. Shen moved back as Natsu got to his feet, his neck red from the flames.

"Your fire...burned me...?" Natsu asked his hand on his neck.

"Natsu's...been...burned?" Gray said, saying the whole guild's thoughts out loud.

"Your fire is useless against me Natsu. Surrender now, you have no way to defeat me."

Natsu glared at him "I will not surrender to you." He ran at him and tried to punch him again and Shen didn't move as Natsu punched him in the face, not getting a reaction again. Shen shook his head as he kicked Natsu back. Shen looked down and seemed to be focusing, and the fire around him started to burn hotter, so much so that the spectators had to step back from the heat.

"Natsu Dragneel, I am through dealing with you." Shen's flame armor start to draw back and move into his hands, forming a blazing orb of fire in his hands "This is a compressed orb Natsu. Once it hits it's target are you aware of what will happen?"

"It doesn't matter I won't let it hit."

"Once it hits all of the fore that is compressed will be unleashed." Shen said walking towards Natsu. Suddenly he appeared in front of him "You lose this battle." Shen slammed the orb into Natsu's chest, causing a raging pillar of flaming arising from both Shen and Natsu had been standing. Once the fire had finally disappeared. Shen was standing, unharmed by his own attack and Natsu was on the ground, his skin burned red.

"Natsu Dragneel, don't fuck with me again." Shen said as he walked away from the guild.

Chapter 2 End