A/N: Sorry to everyone who'd hoped my Christmas update would be part of Girl's Mind, but I've been wanting to write Gray-as-Ino pretty much since day ONE. When I started writing, I plotted out who some other FT members would possess just for fun, Natsu was obviously the first and Gray was the second – entirely because Ino and Sakura are rivals, and Natsu and Gray are rivals, so if Natsu is Sakura, then Gray has to be Ino. And I've been wanting to write it this entire time and only finally got the right combination of inspiration and setting to do it on Christmas. My brain would allow nothing else, even though I'd been sorta thinking about writing Chapter 13 that day. And now of course, Wandering Fairies wants to be its own story so bad I almost wonder if I should put it in a separate file instead of leaving it in the Outtakes. But that'd be a level of commitment I'm not ready for, so it'll stay where it is for now. Feel free to guess who Happy, Lucy, and Zeref would possess! I haven't figured out all the others just yet, but those three have ALSO been decided almost from the very beginning of Girl's Mind. Zeref should be pretty obvious, but both Lucy and Happy are definitely a bit more out-there. And just writing this AN made me realize who I want Erza to be, so… oops?

To BG90: Aah, thanks for mentioning that. It's not that Natsu stopped fighting with Sasuke completely – actually, in the note to my beta I asked if summarizing the rest of the test was okay or if I should put more detail, cause it was pretty much just everyone getting progressively angrier with each other and I didn't want to write that. Beta said it was good, but I didn't even think about the fact that with Kakashi's words later, it gave the impression Natsu didn't do anything after the first attempt. I might go back and edit a little, because in my head Natsu's problem was that he didn't want to 'take control' of the team. He's an interloper, he doesn't belong, he doesn't want to belong. So he argued with Sasuke, got Naruto to argue with Sasuke (which developed into a fight) but wasn't willing to actually resort to taking command of a team he doesn't really feel like he belongs to. That was what I was trying to convey, and perhaps I didn't get it to come across as clearly as I'd hoped. He definitely didn't just roll over and accept everything, he just didn't take control like Kakashi knew he could, and that's where Kakashi's reprimand came from. I will go back and rephrase a few things to try and clear that up a bit. Also, totally sorry for deceiving you with the false update! About Zeref though... he will appear in Wandering Fairies (the much more cracky AU of this verse), I just don't think I could manage to put him in Girl's Mind and still keep everything going the way I want it to. Admittedly, I only have books 1 and 2 plotted out, book 3 is a complete mystery here. So while there's no plans for him to be there, well. Book 1 is already wildly different from how it was when I started, and book 2 didn't even exist in my planning back then. So who can say? Maybe Zeref will gatecrash the final book, maybe he won't. Honestly, book 1 is already over halfway through my estimated word count and not EVEN half way through my projected plot, so book 3 is a long looooooong way away. Anything can happen.

This chapter might get edited later, beta didn't have a chance to go over it. Thanks for reading though! This'll be the last update of 2019, so Happy New Year, everyone!

Natsu would like to think he's a cat person. Happy's a cat, after all, even if he's a talking, flying one. Natsu likes cats. Natsu never thought he could not like a cat.

Natsu had never met Tora before.

Team 7 stumbles up to the mission return desk, one hellspawn she-demon of a cat screeching at the top of her lungs as Naruto holds on like the world itself will end should his grip falter, Sasuke flanking him with the cat's front paws gripped in his hand to protect Naruto from her scratching while Natsu holds the end of a rope tied about her middle just in case she makes a break for it.

The sun set two hours ago, and Natsu stares in numb apathy as the desk attendant says they've set a new record for the longest time it's taken to capture the abomination. Natsu finds himself mildly surprised when the man says that eight and a half hours is ridiculous, because it felt like longer. The man continues to chide them, but Naruto interrupts with something that sounds a bit like, "Iruka-senseeeeeeeeeeei~" and he stops lecturing.

"Yes, Naruto-kun?" he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. Natsu vaguely focuses on the scar that cuts across, wondering how he got it.

"C-can you just take it away now? Before it escapes again?"

The hellspawn lets out another vicious screech, renewing its struggles. Sasuke grimaces, the claws must have been unsheathed, but without the leverage to scratch they aren't dangerous enough to make him let go.

Natsu sighs in relief.

The hellspawn seemed unable to decide which member of Team 7 it hated the most, but considering the way it mockingly stropped Kakashi's ankles, Natsu's pretty sure he knows who the demon liked.

Iruka puts the final stamps on the paperwork and walks around the desk, shaking his head. "Fine. Madam Shijimi already left for the day since you took so long, but we'll keep her here in administration til tomorrow morning." He grabs the rope from Natsu's hand first, offering a disappointed gaze the pinkette is too exhausted to care about, then scoops the hellcat out of Naruto's arms.

It only takes until Iruka unties the rope, petting down the cat's fur as he murmurs, "oh I can't believe they tied it so tightly, you poor thing," for Tora to wiggle under his chin, looking like she's going for an affectionate headbutt. Her front paws brace on Iruka's shoulder, and Natsu sees it nearly before it happens, as her muscles bunch and her forepaws brace on his vest and then she's up and over and under the desks before anyone has a chance to react.

Natsu tracks her with his eyes as she dodges around someone carrying a stack of paperwork, leaps onto a bench, then wiggles herself under a cracked-open window. He turns dead eyes back to Iruka.

"We're not doing this again. You touched her last, you accepted our mission completion. She's your problem now."

Sasuke's hand drips blood from ten small puncture wounds. He glares up at Iruka. "She was tied up for a reason." His voice sounds as dead as Natsu feels, hollow and empty as though their souls were sucked away by the demon they'd fought so hard to capture.

Naruto looks at the stamped paperwork. "Will we still get paid?" he asks morosely, and Natsu pats him on the back.

"I'll bring you lunch tomorrow, if they don't."

"Thanks…"

Iruka looks at them, then to the rope still in his hands. "Tora's never done that before…" he mutters, shaking his head.

Natsu doesn't care. That cat was so evil, it drove Sasuke into willing cooperation which, as far as Natsu is concerned, makes the hellspawn the evilest thing to exist in the entire world. Any 'decency' she displays can only be an act to fool her captors long enough to make her next escape.

Naruto's stomach grumbles loudly, and Iruka sighs. "Go home then. I already signed the paperwork, so I'll go catch her." He shoos them away, and Natsu looks up at Kakashi. The man has his right hand in his pocket, left holding up a book to his nose, and Natsu knows he could have caught the cat before it escaped again. He makes his eyes as dead as possible.

"Sensei?"

Kakashi sighs dramatically, as though they're personally offending him by asking to be dismissed. "Oh very well," he groans, shooing his hand at them, "off you go. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning."

Natsu offers a jerk of a wave to his teammates and walks back to Sakura-chan's house. He takes a quick shower and gets ready for bed with the methodical actions of someone who is only paying the barest of attention, half-asleep on his feet and out like a light the moment he lays down.

He dreams of Tora, triumphantly captured, only to sprout wings just before they bring her in, laughing in Happy's most mischievous voice as she flies away.

Dreams of Tora, flying above the trees, and he turns to Happy, but Happy is gone, Happy is flying with Tora and presenting her with fish-

No! Happy likes Charla, Happy you can't do this! She's evil, Happy, she's not a good match for you!

But Happy is deaf to Natsu's pleas, dancing in the wind and offering the flying Tora courtship gifts as Natsu stares in horror from his place on the ground, unable to call his friend back.

Natsu dreams of blue-furred babies with pink bows, Happy and Tora curled about the children and purring to each other. Happy leans over, grooming Tora's fur, his tail twining together with hers.

One of the babies opens its eyes, and Natsu sees blood-red evil looking out from Happy's soft blue fur.

He wakes up screaming.

"Seriously, I'm fine! It was just a dream, sheesh!"

Mebuki-san gives him a disbelieving look, holding the two bento boxes he asked her to prepare above her head. He'd already tried jumping and he doesn't really want to get into a fight with Sakura-chan's civilian mother, but at this point he's going to be late and Natsu really doesn't want to know what Kakashi would do to him if he is.

"Natsu-kun-"

"Oh, let him be, dear. I don't think you're going to get anything out of him."

Sakura-chan's mother glares at her husband, but lowers the bentos all the same. "Inoichi-san left a message last night, he'll have time for your first lesson tomorrow. If you're having nightmares, I suggest you take some time to speak with him about them, alright?"

Natsu isn't going to speak about that dream to anyone, ever, but he nods quickly anyway. "Fine, fine, I gotcha, but I really gotta go or I'll be late!" Grabbing the bentos, he turns and rushes off, tossing a quick, "See ya!" behind him as he goes.

Naruto and Sasuke are already there when he gets to the field, and he drops the lunches on one of the training posts before turning toward the Uchiha.

"They… did recapture her. Right?"

Sasuke raises an eyebrow. "Why're you asking me?"

Natsu sighs, looks to Naruto. The blond shakes his head. "No one said anything to me, either. I guess that means you don't know too. I-it shouldn't be a problem though. Iruka-sensei's a chunin, there's no way he'd fail, we won't have to do it again."

"Hn." Sasuke turns, offering a suspicious glare toward the administration building, and Kakashi appears between them in a flurry of leaves.

"Well now," He starts brightly, clapping his hands together as they all jump. "Looks like everyone's here! How are my students this fine morning?"

In a rather extraordinary display of team unity, Kakashi receives three matching glares. Sasuke's somehow also manages to incorporate the ability to question his lineage, and Natsu has no idea how he managed to pull that off.

Kakashi laughs off their displeasure and orders them to run laps around the training field. He disappears in a puff of smoke as soon as he finishes speaking, Naruto's loud protest falling flat. Sasuke offers another 'hn', turning and jogging to the border of the field to begin his laps. Natsu and Naruto exchange shrugs and join him.

The training field is large, when you take the forest and river into consideration, and Natsu starts to feel a stitch in his side by the second lap. Halfway through the fourth he stops, leaning against a tree and trying to regulate his breathing as black spots dance in front of his eyes.

Dammit! What kind of person wants to be a shinobi, but gets tired this easily?!

Sasuke laps him, offering a sharp look of disdain, and Natsu bares his teeth in a snarl. His head swims again as he pushes off the tree and tries to support his own weight, but Natsu stubborns his way through the disorientation, glaring at nothing until his vision levels out. Once the dizziness fades, he starts walking.

Even Sasuke is reduced to walking by the time Kakashi calls them back to the clearing, Naruto the only one who has the stamina to keep running the laps. Natsu finds himself less surprised, this time. Stamina is the one thing the blond possesses in spades, and Natsu wonders where he gets the energy, since Naruto has to have skipped both dinner and breakfast due to his lack of funds.

They trudge their way back toward the posts, where Kakashi waits with a cheery eye-smile. "Hmm, Natsu-kun will have to work on his stamina." he offers as soon as they're within earshot, and Natsu glares at him tiredly.

Che! As if I don't know that!

"Now, today we'll do something a little different! I've hidden a bunch of pieces to a puzzle around the forest. You'll have to find them and put them together into the correct shape within an hour. Let me know when you're ready~"

"Huh?!" Naruto speaks first, staring in confusion at the sensei. "What's that got to do with teamwork?"

Kakashi's cheery smile turns malicious. "Maa maa. Are you doubting me?" Naruto quails a bit under the stare, which quickly turns itself back to his usual, cheery look. "Well, if you really need me to explain it to you… I suppose the time it takes to explain can be taken off the time I gave you to complete the test?" He tilts his head to the side in innocent curiosity, every inch of it a lie.

"Hn. Let's go." Sasuke turns and walks off, and Natsu gapes.

"Wha- don't just decide on your own you bastard!"

Only the knowledge that Kakashi likely started counting their time as soon as Sasuke spoke keeps him from staying where he is, the pinkette grumbling curses as he makes himself catch up to the Uchiha.

"If we all just run around the forest," he gasps out as he and Naruto draw even with Sasuke, "then even if we find all the pieces we won't be able to assemble them. S-so, whoever's good at puzzles should sit in one place and let us bring em over, yeah?"

Sasuke sends him a scornful glance. "You're too exhausted to be any use looking anyway. So just find someplace to sit around and wait. We'll find everything ourselves." he tosses a somewhat doubtful look toward Naruto, then breaks into a jog, disappearing quickly into the trees.

"Sorry about that S-Natsu-kun." Naruto says, scratching sheepishly. "If you wanted to look yourself, I could try and be the one to put it all together! I mean, I can make shadow clones, so I'd still be able to help you guys too!"

"Are you any good at puzzles?"

"Urk!"

Natsu sighs. "I'm not really, either… but even if he was rude about it Sasuke was right. Sakura-chan's body just isn't as strong as I'm used to, and I'm pretty exhausted… but maybe you could leave a… shadow clone?... with me, and we can figure it out from there!"

"Sure thing! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto crosses his fingers, and a dozen copies of himself appear between the trees.

"We're gonna bring anything we find to Sakura-chan!" he commands to the clones, all of them chorusing their acceptance before bolting deeper into the trees. One stays behind, and Naruto quickly runs up to whisper to it.

Natsu's enhanced hearing picks up the words as he quickly mutters out instructions. "You gotta protect Sak-k-Natsu-kun, incase the teme tries anything! I'm counting on you, so don't screw this up!"

Natsu narrows his eyes, offended, but Naruto bolts off with a wave before he can say anything. Natsu turns his gaze to the clone. "Just so we're clear," he starts, crossing his arms, "I don't need to be protected."

The clone laughs, bouncing over. "Sure, sure, you know how the boss is. We got the boring job honestly, just sitting around waiting! Ugh!" The clone sits, crossing his legs and propping his chin in his palms.

Natsu joins him, leaning his back against a tree and sliding down to sit at the roots. And tilts his head.

Hmm…

"You can sit next to me if you'd like!" he offers, patting the ground next to him. The clone all but leaps over, happily sitting right next to him, and Natsu finds himself blinking a bit in confusion.

Uh. Oooookay then?

Natsu resolves to ignore that, and does his best to look relaxed. "So, what even is a Shadow Clone? I mean, obviously you're physical, and you even smell mostly like Naruto. Do you have all his memories, or do you only know what you need to know to do your job?"

"Heh!" the clone leans back, weight braced onto his hands. "The Shadow Clone jutsu is the best! Boss actually found it in the Forbidden Scroll he stole from Jiji! It's a totally kick-ass technique only the best ninja can use! I totally know everything the Boss does, I'm like Boss 2.0! It turned out that Mizuki-bastard was lying when he said learning a jutsu from the Forbidden Scroll would let you become a shinobi, but Iruka-sensei was so impressed boss did it that he passed him anyway! Why? You wanna learn how to do it? Boss would definitely teach you!"

Stole from… isn't jiji what he calls the Hokage? And he didn't get in trouble?!

Just another thing to add to the mystery-of-Naruto pile. Natsu thinks for a minute, then shrugs. "So, why's everyone treat you so weird. I'm pretty sure teachers aren't supposed to lie about how to pass tests, or that the Hokage usually lets people steal from him. I know Naruto's hiding something, so what is it?" Natsu leans forward, planting his hands on the ground, and the clone gives him a nervous look.

"Ehehe, I don't think Boss'd be happy if I told you…"

"Is it really that bad? Like, are you in trouble or something?"

"Wha-? No, no, Boss isn't in trouble! It's not really anything you could help with, really! Some people just don't like Boss and they get weird about it, is all."

"Uh-huh."

The clone winces, falling back until he's laying down. "Look, I can't- I'm still like, practically Boss. Just temporary. And just cause I wouldn't have to deal with anything after I told you doesn't mean Boss wouldn't. And then he'd be upset. So I'm not gonna say!"

Natsu nearly asks why Naruto wouldn't want to tell him, but… Naruto's known him for all of three days, after he took over the body of one of Naruto's friends.

He sighs.

"Alright, alright. I won't ask again. But I'm not gonna let this go til I figure it out either! You got that?" Natsu points right at the clone for good measure, and it laughs nervously at him.

"Y-yeah, sure thing! S-so-" the clone takes a moment, clearly trying to think of something to change the subject, "what do you think this puzzle's gonna be anyway?"

Natsu opens his mouth, ready to tell the clone he's got no clue, when something heavy thunks onto his head.

"Ow!" One hand clasping his skull, Natsu looks up to see Sasuke leap to another tree, not even looking back.

"Huh. It's… a cube with fancy swirls on it?"

"What?" Natsu looks away from the Uchiha's trail, turning to study what has to be the first piece of the puzzle. "I think those are… seals? There were some on a bathtub in Sakura-chan's house, but I broke those…"

Naruto's clone gets a worried look on his face. "That doesn't sound like a good sign…"

Natsu grimaces. "We'll just have to see how many Naruto and Sasuke find… maybe one of the others will have a hint so we know what to do with it…"

"Yeah, maybe."

Natsu and the clone trade worried looks, the cube laying between them.

Natsu gets the feeling this test won't be half as easy as it sounded in description.