AN: Hi everyone! 'Nother chapter for you guys coming right up! Hopefully this will be a little more to your liking. I'm honestly not sure how I feel about how this chapter turned out, so any feedback is super-especially appreciated this time around. Enjoy!

Notice: I own nothing, for I am not Hiro Mashima. Amen.

Chapter 6: One Very Big Misunderstanding, Part II

Three days later, Kagura looked up at the massive building that was the Sabertooth guildhall. Once regarded as the strongest guild in Fiore, it still boasted many of the trimmings that came from such prestige.

The bronze double doors swung open inwardly as Kagura marched inside. The members of Sabertooth backed away in fear, sensing the aura of intense anger radiating from the woman. Kagura stormed towards a large door at the back of the room. On it was engraved a small placard in gold: Master Sting.

The walls of Sting Euclifffe's office were painted white, the color barely visible through the thick layer of pictures. The pictures were mostly of Sting and Lector, but some of Rogue and Frosch were mixed in as well. Above his desk was hung a large portrait of Natsu and Gajeel slugging it out. His desk itself was covered in stacks of papers piled two, three feet high. These were covered by a fine layer of dust. In the corner was a large glass case filled with trophies. Sting himself sat in a swivel chair, his back to Kagura.

Kagura spoke through gritted teeth, her words slow and sharp. "Where. Is. Rogue?"

Silence. It lasted an eternity.

"How dare you ask me that," said Sting finally. "You, of all people." He swiveled his chair around to face her. His eyes were completely bloodshot, the skin underneath them purple and sagging. Throbbing veins were visible on his forehead.

"Rogue hasn't come home for five days. We're all worried sick. Frosch hasn't stopped crying. So I hear from some other Masters that you said something to him and he ran off, and that's the last time anybody ever saw him… Well? Why'd he do that? What'd you say to him?"

Kagura's rage was beginning to build. It wouldn't stay bottled up for much longer. "That's none of your business."

Fractures started to spread over the woodwork of Sting's desk. "None of my business, you say?"

His body became wreathed in light as white marks started etching themselves on his face. "Maybe THIS will change your mind!" He brought his hands together and unleashed Holy Ray on Kagura.

The entire wall of Sting's office exploded, and Kagura was thrown out onto the street. She quickly regained her balance, then dodged Sting's next few punches. She sliced back at him numerous times, which he dodged and replied with a White Dragon's Roar. The street was completely torn asunder by their epic clash, but Sting's Dragon Force combined with his tremendous power gave him the upper hand.

Sting managed to land a White Dragon's Claw on Kagura's thigh, and the magic stigma circle burned itself into her skin. Kagura found herself unable to move. Sting began laying into her with his fists while she lay helpless on the ground, grunting one word with each punch. "I'll-never-see-Rogue-again-and-it's-all-because-of-YOU!"

On his last word, his fist exploded in light, leaving Kagura lying at the bottom of ten-foot crater in the ground. Sting stood over her, panting, surveying his handiwork.

Kagura's eye twitched. Her rage popped.

Sting's knees suddenly buckled to the ground. He was being dragged down by an incredible, overbearing force. The gravity around him had increased tenfold. Sting fought to keep his head up, but soon it slammed face-first into the ground, knocking him unconscious. The force of gravity was so strong that it caused his body to bore several inches into the street. Kagura stood over him, the stigma circle forgotten, irrelevant.

"So, Rogue leaves me, breaks my heart… For some reason I'm still trying to find him… and you tell me it's my fault?"

Kagura felt more familiar right now than she had in a long time. She'd almost forgotten what it felt like to feel this much pain and anger inside of her. She unsheathed Archenemy.

Rogue lay awake inside a shadow in a tavern in the neighboring country of Bosco. He'd come a long way from Sabertooth in just five days, but he wasn't far enough. People around here still knew who Sting Eucliffe was. Rogue had promised himself that he'd keep traveling north until he encountered a citizen who'd never heard of Sting Eucliffe. So far, no luck.

He felt terrible about how he'd just left. He imagined Frosch must be worried sick about him right now. But for now, all Rogue knew was that he needed to be alone. Or at least, he used to know that. Now Rogue wondered if that was really true anymore.

Suddenly a chill tingled through Rogue's shoulders. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He felt something was about to happen. Someone dear to me is about to die. Rogue had no explanation for how he knew this was so. It was simply a fact. Someone needed Rogue. Someone needed him now.

Without thinking, Rogue melted completely into shadow and began traveling as fast as he could, back down south, back towards Fiore, back towards Sabertooth, back home. He could actually travel incredibly fast when in pure shadow form, although it consumed vast amounts of his magic power.

Rogue burst out of the ground, grabbing someone's hand, preventing the stab of a lethal weapon. The assailant stumbled backward in surprise, while Rogue struggled to remain on his feet, panting from the exertion. He nevertheless forced himself to assume a battle stance, for he knew he would have to fight the attacker. He was still thrown off balance when he heard a familiar voice.

"Rogue?"

Rogue snapped out of his trance and took in his surroundings. He was on the street outside the Sabertooth guild hall. The street was absolutely desecrated. Below his feet lay Sting, beaten, bruised, and unconscious. And in front of him, clearly the one responsible for Sting's condition, her Archenemy sword unsheathed, was Kagura.

Rogue let go of her hand. "Kagura? Why… How… What the hell happened here?"

Kagura stepped forward and slapped Rogue hard across the face. "You idiot! Look at Sting's face! Look what you did to your partner!" She was crying. Why? Why was she even attacking Sting in the first place?

"You pull your little disappearing act on me when I tell you my feelings. You don't tell anyone where the fuck you went, not even Frosch. You reduced your partner to this. And you ask me what the hell happened?"

Rogue stumbled backwards. "Wait… feelings? Like, for Sting?"

Kagura snorted. "Yeah, real funny. No. It was for you, remember? But of course, you knew what I was going to say, so you wouldn't even let me say it! You stifled my one chance to heal my heart and let me choke on it!"

Kagura's aura of rage was getting stronger. Rogue had a feeling she would hit him across the face again, and not with her hand this time. In contrast, Rogue's mouth was wide open.

"You… feelings… for me? And not Sting?"

Kagura's anger subsided a little. "Wait… you weren't joking? You actually thought…" Rogue nodded in shock. "Why? Why Sting?"

Rogue looked down. His hands were shaking. "It's just… ever since Sting became Master, I've felt absolutely inferior to him in every way. People barely even remember me anymore. I'm worthless. I figured, if everyone else, thought that way, why shouldn't you?"

Kagura's anger completely dissipated. Now it made sense. What Rogue had said… it had nothing to do with him not being interested in her. She pointed to Sting's unconscious body. "Do you feel inferior to him now?"

Rogue fell to his knees. "Yes. So much so," he whispered bitterly.

Kagura thought about Rogue's words. What did they reveal of his character?

Then she did something neither of them expected. She knelt down and embraced Rogue. "Rogue, I'm so sorry. I forgive you." Wait, I do? What am I doing?

"Wait, you do? How can you do that so easily?"

Kagura buried her face in Rogue's chest. She pulled it out after a few seconds and put a hand on each of his shoulders, her face just a few inches from his.

"Look, Rogue, I understand what you're going through. We both have issues we need to work out, issues that make us act strangely, not like the people we really are. So that's why you need to talk to people, to figure out exactly what who we are means."

"That's… the most poetic thing I've ever heard you say, Kagura," Rogue breathed.

"Yeah, well… I'll help talk you through it if you help me. And there's someone else you should talk to as well." She glanced at Sting. "You can't ever hope to solve this inferiority issue without talking to him. Trust me, Rogue, I've been inside his office. He still cares as deeply for you as he ever has. There's no way he'd want you to suffer on his account."

Rogue was speechless. "I… I can't…"

Kagura put a finger to his lips. "Yes, you can. You'll practice with me first, though. Tomorrow, seven p.m. Don't be late, or I really will kill you this time. Now take Sting back home and get some rest. Frosch is worried sick about you."

And with that, she turned on her heel and walked off the street, out of town, and all the way back to Mermaid Heel.

Hopefully that was to your liking! Thanks for reading! Don't forget to R&R! Have a ding-dang-wang-bang-golly-gosh-darn-tootin-falutin-fizz-gee-wizz-day!