First Day...First Job...!
Chapter 5 - First Day...First Job...!
"That's part of it… but fights are more or less how we show we care in Fairy Tail." Natsu replied.
"And that's not weird to you?" Ichigo questioned.
"Not at all." Natsu answered happily.
"It's part of what makes Fairy Tail the best guild in all of Fiore!" Happy piped in.
"That so? Well… goodnight, Natsu, Happy." Ichigo said in an attempt to bring their conversation to an end.
"Goodnight." Happy replied cheerfully.
"Goodnight, Ichigo, night little buddy." Natsu said, smiling warmly before he yawned and began to drift off into sleep.
The dragon slayer had started to learn a bit more about his latest friend, and to be honest he saw a lot of himself in him. Even the reasons the substitute gave for joining the guild had mirrored what he loved about it the most. Moreover his current situation was exactly that of his own when Igneel had left him all those years ago, and that was something he really didn't get over until he found Fairy Tail.
Perhaps he did feel a bit of a connection with the orange-haired teen, but even beyond that they got along very well. Ichigo's situation was still definitely less than preferable, but everything happens for a reason, or so they say.
{Natsu's Home, The Next Morning…}
"Natsu…" Happy called.
The dragon slayer and the substitute currently lay in their respective hammocks sleeping soundly if the peaceful expressions on their faces were anything to go by. Happy was, for the moment, the only one among them who was awake, therefore he took it upon himself to carefully wake them up so as not to upset them a great degree.
When the pink-haired teen did nothing but mumble and roll over on his side, his back subsequently facing the blue-furred Exceed, Happy took that to mean his attempt at peacefully waking up his best friend ended in failure.
Accepting the fact that he had tried, because technically he had, the resident feline summoned his wings, made a move to the upper part of the hammock near the beam it was tethered to, and gracefully flipped it. However, graceful only described the manner in which it was flipped, how its occupant landed was another story entirely.
Natsu then hit the floor with a loud thud, his face being the first part of his body to actually connect with the hard wood. Within a moment he picked himself up, tick marks popping out of his forehead, and he prepared to scream at his friend for waking him up in such a horrible way.
He was, however, silenced upon the blue feline gesturing a finger towards the only other occupant of the room. That gave him pause, given that at the very least it was clear Ichigo was still sleeping soundly, and obviously his yelling would cause him to wake up.
"That hurt Happy, what the hell?!" Natsu asked in a quiet voice, his anger very evident but his voice volume surprisingly contained.
"Sorry Natsu, I tried to wake you up another way but you just wouldn't listen." Happy replied, crossing his arms upon landing back on the floors and retracting his wings.
"Next time just poke me or something, okay?" Natsu asked, deciding something that stupid wasn't worth being angry over this early in the morning.
"Aye!" Happy replied in a hushed tone.
"Anyway… let me show you how to wake someone up without flipping them over and making them land on the floor." Natsu stated as he walked up to his latest companion.
The Fairy Tail wizard stopped at the side of the hammock, getting a good look at the fact that his house guest was dead asleep. Even so, he wasn't about to do a repeat of what Happy did, and thus he simply decided to slightly stir him.
"Ichigo… wake up." Natsu called in a voice of normal volume.
The orange-haired teen made no sign of acknowledging that he had heard the call, which caused Natsu to scratch his head. He thought his voice was definitely loud enough to hear, or maybe it was that he really was that tired.
"Poke him Natsu." Happy suggested, recalling that is exactly the thing that his friend had advised he do a moment ago.
"Alright… hey, Ichigo, wake u…" Natsu began, poking the shoulder of the substitute as he spoke.
He didn't even get to finish his sentence as the moment his finger came into contact with Ichigo's shoulder said orange-haired teen instantaneously woke up and punched the dragon slayer with such force that he was sent flying across the room, hitting the opposite wall with a loud bang.
Happy just looked at the display with an expression mirroring absolute shock or fear, while Natsu just slid down the wall with a bucket covering his head and quiet groans escaping his lips. Ichigo, however, just looked extremely confused as he could have sworn he was asleep a moment ago. Yet now he was currently standing with his fist primed in a way that suggested he had recently thrown a punch.
'What did I…' Ichigo thought, only to stop upon seeing the dragon slayer across the room, lying on the ground with a metal bucket over his head. He then looked over to the blue-furred Exceed, who almost instantly adopted an expression of fear.
"Don't hit me!" Happy begged in a fearful manner.
"What? No! I wouldn't do that, I just… sorry about that, Natsu." Ichigo said in a slightly embarrassed manner.
"Oww…" Natsu mumbled upon taking the bucket off of his head.
He then walked over to Ichigo, clenching his stomach briefly given that it definitely wasn't something he was prepared for. Usually he was never hit this early in the morning given that a certain scarlet-haired mage didn't see him until he arrived at the guild. Needless to say he had no intention of making this a habit.
"What was that for?!" Natsu exclaimed confusedly.
"I umm… well, you see, my dad had a habit of waking me up every morning by attacking me, to make sure I was always ready if someone did actually attack me for some reason. It's really weird, I know, but it did build in good reflexes…" Ichigo replied, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.
"Yeah, I'll say." Natsu grumbled, having just witnessed the results firsthand.
"Aye." Happy said in agreement.
"By the way, that would have been something nice to know before I tried waking you up. If I had known, I'd have called that bastard Gray over to wake you up." Natsu said, actually smirking at the thought.
"Again, sorry." Ichigo apologized.
"Meh, don't worry about it. I've been hit a lot harder than that before." Natsu replied with a friendly smile.
"So what exactly do you have planned today?" Ichigo asked in a curious tone.
The dynamic of a guild was very interesting to say the least. It wasn't quite like the Thirteen Court Guard Squads where you reported to your division every day without fail and simultaneously lived within it, and yet clearly they had some kind of responsibilities to uphold within a guild. However that didn't necessarily imply that everyone entered the guildhall every day, especially considering that perhaps they were out of town for some reason or other. Needless to say he was curious as to what the dragon slayer traditionally did day by day.
"What we usually do, eat breakfast and then head over to the guild!" Natsu replied in a cheerful manner.
"Gotcha." Ichigo replied, sweatdropping slightly.
'I wasn't really expecting such an obvious answer…' Ichigo thought.
{Magnolia: Fairy Tail Guildhall, Some Time Later…}
"What's up everyone?!" Natsu exclaimed, yet again kicking the door open in what had become known to the substitute as his traditional entrance.
"Mornin' Natsu." Several greeted, most others choosing to just look over to the door and nod so as to acknowledge his presence.
"Do you always have to kick the door open?" Ichigo asked as the two walked into the guild.
"But it's so cool…" Natsu replied, lightly whining in an attempt to defend his position that it was an awesome entrance.
"Aye!" Happy chirped.
The trio then walked towards the bar, as per Natsu's suggestion given that a certain white-haired girl had offered to teach Ichigo the basics of job requests. It wasn't that the dragon slayer wasn't capable of explaining how job's worked, he just felt that Mirajane would probably be able to do it better.
"Good morning you two." Mira greeted cheerfully, bearing her usual bright smile.
"Hey Mirajane, morning." Ichigo replied.
"So how was it at Natsu's house?" Mira inquired, a bit of humor in her voice given that she could somewhat predict the first thing the orange-haired teen would say.
"His house was really, really dirty… at first. It wasn't bad at all after I cleaned it." Ichigo replied.
"Thanks for that by the way." Natsu said, genuine appreciation in his voice.
"How bad was it? Were there actual fumes coming out of it?" Mirajane asked in a joking manner, however she could very easily see this being true.
"It wasn't that bad." Natsu said defensively.
"It was pretty bad… but no, not that bad." Ichigo stated.
"Anyway, were you two in a hurry to get here this morning?" Mirajane asked, sounding somewhat curious.
"No, why do you ask?" Ichigo inquired. He didn't really see a particular reason to suspect they had been rushing this morning, which made the barmaid's question all the more surprising.
"It's just that you're wearing the same thing you did yesterday so I thought maybe you were in a rush and didn't change." Mirajane explained.
Even she and many others changed into a fresh version of their current clothing pretty much every day. With Natsu this was always possible, but he never really wore any significant clothing so it wasn't really a valid topic of conversation.
"To be really honest I don't have other clothes…" Ichigo replied, trying not to belabor the point that he wasn't even a native to this world.
"Oh, silly me, sorry I said that. I don't know how I forgot about your situation." Mirajane said in a somewhat embarrassed manner.
Mentally the former Fairy Tail mage berated herself for her simple slip of the tongue. It was so obvious that since he according to him he had never stepped foot in this land before today, which would mean that naturally he wouldn't have daily necessities. She just hoped that her question didn't imply that she didn't believe his claims, because in truth she did.
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you just forgot about my situation or something like that. But I would be grateful if you could explain how job requests work around here, because I need to go on one as soon as I can to get some money for… well, you can guess." Ichigo said, chuckling slightly as he finished.
"Of course, follow me please." Mirajane replied happily.
The white-haired barmaid lead the way towards the request board, which currently sat in place with no wizards currently around it. In truth most of the guild had yet to arrive, but it was fairly early in the morning so it wasn't entirely ridiculous to assume that many hadn't yet arrived.
Natsu almost immediately began to look at the various pieces of papers attached to the board, accompanied by Happy. However, Ichigo just stood in silence, waiting for his technical guide to fill him in on how this all worked.
"This right here is called the request board, and it's basically just what it sounds like. Many different organizations put in requests to our guild and we put down the basic information on these pieces of paper. Any member of the guild can feel free to take any job they like, provided they think they can handle it, of course." Mirajane explained.
"So essentially I can just take any one of the jobs I want?" Ichigo asked, wanting to ensure that he grasped the core concept.
In truth he was only asking said question because he wanted to be completely sure that no paperwork was involved. The sheer amount of complaining that Rangiku did about her own and the amount her captain did about her not doing it only gave him the implication that organizations like the Thirteen Court Guard Squads were often much more complicated than they appeared on the surface.
"Yes, that's the gist of it. On the flyers you can find out the reward, who the employer is, obviously what the job is, and the location or locations you need to go in order to complete the request. You do need to tell myself or Master Makarov when you go on and complete a job though, just because we like to keep records on who does what. Also in some cases we need to inform the employers that you will be taking the job." Mirajane replied.
"Alright then, thanks for explaining all that." Ichigo said with a small smile, eliciting a slightly bashful nod from the white-haired teen.
"Glad to help." Mira said before walking off.
'Alright… now I assume it takes time to figure out what job I should go on, so I guess I'll…' Ichigo thought, only to stop upon his pink-haired friend speaking.
"Got it!" Natsu exclaimed, tearing off one of the many pieces of paper that lined the request board.
"That was quick…" Ichigo said with a deadpanned expression. Very clearly his previous thoughts on the complexity of choosing a job were very misplaced.
"Well I kinda had my eye on this job since yesterday… I just really needed to find it." Natsu replied, shrugging slightly as he finished.
"So what's the job?" Ichigo asked out of curiosity.
"I can explain that later, but I need Lucy for it, which is why I am about to go see her." Natsu replied.
"Natsu! We should take Ichigo with us so Lucy doesn't bully me." Happy said, tugging on the dragon slayer's shorts.
The words of the blue-furred cat made both Ichigo and Natsu chuckle, the latter doing so because the Exceed always amused him and the former because the antics of the feline were starting to grow on him. It was almost as if he was in the presence of a non-perverted version of Keigo. Well, it was also entirely possible that Happy was ever so slightly more intelligent.
"Waddaya say Ichigo, feel like coming with us?" Natsu offered in a friendly manner.
"I guess I don't have a problem with that. Just let me pick out a job first and then we can get going." Ichigo replied.
"Nah, just pick one with a decent reward and you'll be fine. I can give you the directions and everything." Natsu stated confidently.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Ichigo mused, obviously not seeing the logic in picking out a job without knowing the conditions or the description thereof.
"It's your choice…" Natsu said with a shrug.
Ichigo turned to face the request board once more, though when he did something definitely seemed off. He glanced behind his shoulder, only to see both Natsu and Happy hovering over him with curious eyes and blank looks, however very clearly they had a reason behind their collective action.
"Are you just going to do that until I pick a job?" Ichigo asked, guessing that this was the reason for what they were doing.
"Aye!" The two replied simultaneously.
The orange-haired substitute released a tired sigh, after which he just turned back to the request board, snatched a job off the wall, and then turned around to speak to his latest friends once again.
"Let's go." Ichigo simply said.
"Follow me!" Natsu said, cheering slightly as he turned and headed towards the guild's doors.
Immediately after they left, the elderly mage who claimed the tittle of Fairy Tail's master waked over to the request board with a curious expression etched on his face and a lone finger tapping his chin in thought.
"Now I wonder what job Ichigo decided to take…" Makarov thought aloud.
He knew perfectly well which Natsu had taken, mostly due to the fact that the dragon slayer had gone through the request board the previous day and seemed intent on taking a particular job. In fact, had he not been sidetracked by finding Macao he would likely have gone on it the previous day.
'Now that leaves Ichigo… given what's been taken already, it's pretty easy to tell that he took…' Makarov thought, only for his eyes to widen slightly as he realized exactly which task the orange-haired teen had decided on.
"Gehehehehe… so it's that job… good thing he snagged it too, it'd only been up for about half an hour. Talk about a last minute request though…" Makarov said, giggling perversely at the recollection of the request's description.
The elderly mage was broken out of his less than decent thoughts by none other than the barmaid that always smiled so warmly, who walked up to the master and made to speak.
"Goodbye master, I'm off to the Sorcerer's Weekly Magazine shoot." Mirajane said, giving her farewell and simultaneously informing said mage of her whereabouts just in case he were to forget what she had scheduled today.
Makarov didn't seem to acknowledge the girl's words, instead merely choosing to give a slight wave so as to say goodbye. A childish grin was currently etched on his face, and he couldn't help but release a slight chuckle given that he understood the situation perfectly. He didn't know whether to be proud of the orange-haired teen or envious. Still, it didn't quite matter and upon the barmaid exiting the doors of the guild, the master chose to speak.
"Goodbye Mira… say hello to Ichigo for me." Makarov said to himself, immediately after which he erupted into a torrent of laughter for reasons known only to him.
{Magnolia: Lucy's Apartment, Some Time Later…}
The blonde celestial spirit mage sat at the desk of her new apartment with a bright smile on her face. It was possible on of the best buys she could have hoped for, and she couldn't happier with how the place looked. She currently only wore a towel around her body, which may have seemed odd to anyone who was would be able to see her but given that she was within the comfort of her own home and currently had the desire to write her mother, she figured it wasn't an issue.
Lucy turned back to the letter she had written thus far to her mother, preparing to add more to it in favor of being distracted by how much she loved her new apartment.
'Dear Mom, I made it to Magnolia just like I hoped I would. Oh, and I became a member of Fairy Tail! Everyone seems so nice at the guild, and I've met so many interesting people.' Lucy thought, reciting what she had written down.
She paused, briefly, deciding on what more she should write. There were already quite a few things she could tell her mother about, and even though she had only been in the city for a day it was already difficult to choose what to talk about next.
'There's this one guy especially, Natsu… he's a dragon slayer, and he is a bit weird, but he has a big heart, and an annoying blue cat. I also met this other guy from a different dimension… no, seriously, he is! He randomly appeared out of thin air, practically, and even though I feel bad for him I can't help but be interested in what his world is like. He and Natsu are definitely the people I can say I'm closest to right now, but I have a feeling I'll get along with the rest of the guild just fine… provided they aren't all as insane as I initially thought, of course.' Lucy wrote.
"Aaah… I just love this place." Lucy squealed girlishly, rather grateful that not a soul could likely hear her.
The blonde-haired mage stretched her limbs before getting up from the desk, placing her practically finished letter within the drawer before she began walking off. Her face was marked by a large smile as she walked through the halls of her new home, completely incapable of forming a frown at this point in time.
Everything about her place was so phenomenal, the fire place, the location, the price, and even the proximity to Fairy Tail. All of these things were, indeed, great, but nothing could compare to the bedroom.
Immediately after stepping into the bedroom, however, she was greeted with the unfortunate sight of a very evident mess, the source of which was clearly the two individuals who sat in the chair by her table, or on it in the case of a certain cat.
Before her very eyes, Natsu and Happy sat as if nothing was out of the ordinary, snacking on various foods, within the confines of her own bedroom.
"W-wha…" Lucy stuttered out, a shocked expression on her face.
"Oh, hey." Natsu greeted with a small smile, however his words had the unfortunate consequence of breaking the blonde out of her stupor. She then began to growl, her body lightly shaking so as to illustrate her rage.
"Get the heck out of here ya jerks!" Lucy exclaimed, kicking the dragon slayer directly in his face and subsequently sending him across the room. Ironically enough the dragon slayer's feline companion was also hit by his body, successfully injuring him as well.
Natsu landed on his side, a stark contrast to what had happened the very same morning with his orange-haired comrade. Well, at least there was no bucket this time. For Happy, however, this was the first time today, thus far, that he had been injured. But that was to be expected when he was in the company of Lucy.
"Why'd you do that? We just came over to check out your new pad." Natsu said, rubbing his cheek slightly.
"Oh yeah?! What you call checking out I call barging in!" Lucy exclaimed angrily, a tick mark popping out of her temple as she spoke.
'So scary…' Happy thought. He only wished Ichigo had gone in with them, maybe then he could have stopped the blonde from her feline bullying habits.
"And I'm sure the police would call it breaking and entering." Lucy continued, glaring at the duo.
"Oh come on, don't be like that…" Natsu said in what was his best attempt at a soothing voice.
"This is a serious invasion of my privacy." Lucy grumbled.
Before the blonde could continue her pseudo-rant on how her latest friends had broken into her new home, a knock on the door seemingly pacified her.
"Who could that be?" Lucy wondered aloud.
"It's probably Ichigo." Natsu mused, the substitute being the only person he could think of.
"Why would it be him?" Lucy asked, turning to the dragon slayer and quirking a curious brow.
"We can talk about that later! Now quickly Lucy, let him in so he can protect me!" Happy exclaimed.
The blonde-haired mage just released a sigh of annoyance before walking toward the door and opening it, quickly shifting her expression to one that didn't suggest she was enraged so as to greet the one friend she currently had in the city that hadn't broken into her home.
"Oh, hey Ichigo. Come on in." Lucy greeted in a friendly manner.
"Why does he get that kind of greeting and we get pummeled?!" Natsu exclaimed, possessing but restraining the desire the flip the nearest table.
"Because he didn't break in!" Lucy shouted as the two entered the bedroom.
"See, I told you she wasn't okay with it." Ichigo stated, unable to hide the satisfied tone in his voice at his being correct.
The substitute began to look around the room, having gotten a decent look of the outside while he was waiting. In fact the only reason he had been out there so long was that Lucy didn't seem to notice they had entered very quickly. It had been a good ten or so minutes before he heard her screams of annoyance.
"Nice place you've g…" Ichigo said, only pausing as he noticed what the celestial mage was wearing, or rather a distinct lack of clothing.
"Um… are you okay?" Lucy asked, noticing a tinge of red creep onto the substitute's cheeks.
"Why are you only wearing a towel?!" Ichigo exclaimed, averting his eyes so as to properly sidestep his increasing blush.
"W-wha? It's my home!" Lucy said defensively, a large amount of blush coming onto her cheeks as well.
"Anyway, I'm not the one who needs to explain things, tell me why you two are here!" Lucy demanded, though it was more so that she could change the subject.
"Relax, we're all friends, right?" Natsu mused as he shifted through a large collection of paper.
The blonde-haired wizard turned as if to say something to the resident dragon slayer, but she stopped immediately after seeing what he had in his hands. Without even a second thought, she ran up to him and kicked him once again, after which she grabbed the large stack of papers and ran over to the opposite side of the room, holding them tightly against her breasts.
"Are those papers so valuable that you had to do that?" Natsu asked, rubbing his head to alleviate the minor amount of pain he currently felt.
"It's nothing!" Lucy immediately shouted.
"So you'd kick me over nothing?" Natsu asked confusedly.
"Yeah, maybe I would. Can you just go home now?!" Lucy asked.
"Buy why? Your place is so much more exciting." Natsu replied.
"I hate boys…" Lucy whined.
"What about cats?" Happy asked.
"I hate you more!" Lucy growled.
"Eeep, hide me Ichigo!" Happy exclaimed, summoning his wings and hiding behind the orange-haired teen's shoulder. A lone eyeball peaked out from the side of the substitute's body, which allowed the feline to see, very clearly, the glare Lucy now sported.
"Can we just calm down? Natsu, you said you wanted Lucy for a job, right?" Ichigo said, the mild seriousness of the situation putting the blonde's lack of clothing to the back of his mind.
"Oh yeah…" Natsu trailed off, sounding as if he had forgotten.
Ichigo just looked at the pink-haired mage with a deadpanned expression while Lucy, on the other hand, looked at him with one of surprise, as if she hadn't expected such an offer out of the blue.
"Me?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah, but maybe you wanna get dressed before we talk about it?" Natsu mused, knowing full well the blonde couldn't do the job dressed in a towel.
Lucy blushed slightly, after which she nodded her head and walked off towards the bathroom, where everyone just assumed she had the clothes she intended to wear.
{Lucy's Apartment: Common Area, Some Time Later…}
The group sat at the main table of the common area with different respective expressions. Ichigo's being neutral, Natsu's being on of curiosity as he was still looking around the room, Happy's being one similar to his namesake, and Lucy's being one of annoyance for obvious reasons.
"Anyway, like I was saying before, this place is really nice." Ichigo complimented, looking around the room as he spoke.
"Thanks, can you believe I got it for only 70,000 Jewel a month?" Lucy asked, though her question didn't achieve the intended result.
"How would I know if that's a good deal? Remember, not from here and all that…" Ichigo reminded, though it was continuously becoming tedious.
"Trust me, it's a good deal." Lucy stated confidently.
"It needs more fish…" Happy trailed off, an expression of thought etched on his face as if he was deliberately trying to find the flaws of the blonde's home.
"Listen, if you were just joking about the job request I'd prefer you just leave. I'm not really in the mood for visitors at the moment." Lucy said in a warning fashion.
"Talk about cold-hearted…" Natsu mumbled.
"I've met worse…" Ichigo thought aloud.
"Ice cold." Happy commented in his usual tone of voice.
"Watch it cat." Lucy warned.
"But do you really have something better to do than hear us out right now?" Natsu asked, believing the blonde did not.
"Actually yes, I was about to make my contract with another celestial spirit." Lucy said with a small smirk, believing that she had disproved the dragon slayer's notion that she had nothing better to do.
"Whoa, really?" Natsu asked in an excited tone, only feeding the ego of the celestial mage with his words.
"Yes, actually." Lucy replied.
"Wait, how does that work exactly?" Ichigo asked.
"I summon the spirits and work out the details of their service. It's how all celestial wizards determine when and where they can summon their spirits." Lucy explained with a smile. Very clearly the blonde loved to explain her powers.
"So how many of these spirits do you have contracts with?" Happy inquired.
"Six so far. Not to brag or anything but I've got a couple different types of them. The silver keys are the ones you can find in a magic shop. I've got Horologium the clock, Cruz the southern cross, and Lyra the Harp. But the gold one's are super rare. There are twelve total, and they open the gates of the zodiac. I've got Taurus the golden bull, Aquarius the water bearer, and the last one is Cancer the giant crab." Lucy explained, however two of her three friends seemed to pick up on a select few words she had uttered.
"Whoa, a giant crab?" Natsu asked, his and Happy's mouth's watering at the thought.
"That's all you picked up on?" Lucy asked in an annoyed tone.
"Anyway, if you need to make the contract I'm sure we can wait." Ichigo offered, not wanting to be an inconvenience.
"Oh, would the three of you like to see how a celestial wizard makes a contract?" Lucy offered with a bright smile.
"I hope it's not some kind of grody blood pact." Happy whispered as he and his best friend huddled with Ichigo.
"I don't know, it sounds like a pain in the ass to me." Natsu commented.
"You know I can hear you, right?" Lucy said.
"Crap, now we're gonna have to watch it. Thanks a lot, Ichigo." Natsu grumbled.
"You wanted to come here, remember?" Ichigo countered, eliciting a grunt from the dragon slayer.
The blonde-haired wizard then got up from her seat and grabbed the key she presumably was going to use in order to form the contract. She held the key out directly in front of her, and then began to speak.
"I call upon thee in the world of the celestial spirits. I beckon you to my side at once, pass through the gate…" Lucy chanted.
She then held the key up, a magic circle forming underneath her feet and magical energy following around her body before she was finally able to finish the summoning.
"Open Gate of Canis Minor, Nikora!" Lucy exclaimed.
Before the eyes of everyone present the spirit appeared. It was a short, stout white creature with bland eyes and a golden horn-like nose that took a similar shape to that of a carrot. He seemed to shake for some reason, but nevertheless he was the spirit that Lucy had called on.
"Awww, you're such a cutie patootie." Lucy said in a voice similar to one that most used when speaking to a dog or a cherished pet. She then began to rock the rather adorable creature back and forth within her arms, her eyes shut and a blissful expression etched onto her face.
"Seriously?" Natsu asked confusedly, his words mirroring the thoughts of his orange-haired comrade. He, however, kept his reaction restrained to a deadpanned expression.
"Well, it doesn't really take a lot of energy to get these guys here from the celestial spirit world, so a lot of wizards just keep them as pets." Lucy explained.
"I guess that makes some sense…" Ichigo said, not seeing any direct flaws with that logic.
They then began to watch as the two started on their contract, which seemed to consist of Lucy asking what days the small white creature was free and said small white creature either nodding or shaking his head.
"This is really boring…" Natsu whispered.
"Umhmm." Happy mumbled in agreement.
'Just a little bit…' Ichigo thought, sweatdropping as the blonde-haired mage and the spirit seemed to finish their contract just like that.
"Okay, now I just need to come up with a name." Lucy thought aloud.
"Isn't its name Nikora?" Happy asked.
"I think that's just the type of spirit." Ichigo stated, gathering that much thus far.
"Ichigo's right, Nikora is just the species… wait, I know what to call him!" Lucy said, her tone spiking at her realization of what to name the spirit.
The blonde then gestured her arms towards the adorable white spirit with a bright smile on her face, almost as if she was calling it without so much as saying a single word.
"Come here Plue!" Lucy said in the very same voice she had used prior when addressing the pet-like spirit.
"Plue huh? Natsu and Happy wondered aloud.
"What, I think it's the cutest name ever." Lucy said, hugging the spirit as she did so.
"I don't see a problem with it… anyway, you did say you wanted to talk to her about a job, right?" Ichigo mused, finally able to get back on track given that the only item on the female mage's agenda had been dealt with.
"Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me… again. Actually I've got a copy of it right here." Natsu stated, after which he handed the piece of paper off to his blonde-haired comrade.
"So you were serious?" Lucy asked in a surprised voice as she took the piece of paper.
In fact she was so taken back by the apparent truth of the dragon slayer's words that she failed to see the mischievous glint in Natsu's eyes. At the moment she happened to be more engulfed by the fact that someone as strong as Natsu had asked for her help in the first place.
'Something tells me this isn't going to turn out well for her…' Ichigo thought. He chose not to say anything, mostly because he was positive it was harmless fun in the long run, but still he could tell.
"It's in Shiratsume… Oh wow! We get 200,000 Jewel, and all for getting a book back from some guy named Duke Everlue?!" Lucy exclaimed, the sheer amount of the reward surprising her given that the task seemed so simple.
"So you up for it?" Natsu asked with a toothy grin.
"Where do I sign up?" Lucy asked rhetorically.
"Alright, then it's settled, you're definitely a part of our team!" Natsu happily stated, somewhat to the confusion of the blonde-haired mage.
"Team?" Ichigo and Lucy asked in unison.
"Aye! Even though everyone in the guild is allied to one another, some members that get along real well form teams within the guild. That way jobs that may be too hard for one person to take can get done by a team!" Happy explained.
"Awesome!" Lucy cheered, seemingly excited by the concept.
"That's the spirit." Natsu said, bringing up a fist and smiling wholeheartedly at his latest team member.
"What about Ichigo, is he coming with us?" Lucy asked, noticing that the orange-haired teen had been somewhat quiet since he got here.
"I actually thought he should take his first job on his own, mainly cuz' he doesn't know too much about this place so it would be a good experience." Natsu explained.
"I took a job from the request board before we left the guild. Sadly I don't really know what the job is because someone wanted to get here as soon as possible." Ichigo stated, glaring slightly at the pink-haired dragon slayer as he finished.
"Aye!" Happy chirped.
"Wait, you don't know what job you took?" Lucy asked in a surprised voice, eliciting a shake of the head from her orange-haired friend.
"I've got the paper, but I haven't looked at it yet. All I know is that the job is around 400,000 Jewel I think." Ichigo said.
"Whoa, that much?! What kind of a job is this?" Lucy inquired, seemingly astonished.
A moment later he reached into his pocket and pulled out the request, after which he handed it over to the curious celestial mage who seemed to want a look at it. She carefully unfolded the paper shortly thereafter and, upon doing so, began to read.
When it became apparent that Lucy had finished reading the job request, her mouth hung open and an expression of disbelief became etched on her features. This, in turn, confused everyone else present given that none of them knew what could bring about such a reaction, especially if it was due to the job Ichigo was taking on.
'What's with that look?' Ichigo wondered.
A moment later yet another expression, equally as confusing, replaced the one of amazement. The blonde was now sternly glaring at Ichigo with a small frown, almost as if she was insulted in some manner.
"After giving me crap for wearing a towel in my own home you have the nerve to do a job like this?" Lucy asked in an annoyed tone, causing the substitute to blink in a confused manner.
"Huh?" Natsu muttered, sounding completely lost.
"I don't know what's worse, the fact that Ichigo turned out to be a massive perv or the fact that he is being paid so much to be one." Lucy thought aloud.
"W-what?" The three stuttered in unison.
Happy almost immediately grabbed the paper out of Lucy's hands, after which he brought it over to Natsu and the two started to read it in unison. Ironically it seemed that the one who was actually taking on the job request would be the last to find out what it entailed.
As opposed to simply taking back the piece of paper and finding out for himself, Ichigo allowed the pink-haired teen to read it for himself. After this had apparently been done, Natsu's expression mirrored that of Lucy's just a few minutes prior, but Happy still kept his usual appearance for some reason or other.
Ichigo subsequently grabbed the job request and read it for himself, shortly after which his eyes nearly shot out of his head.
"Dammit…" Ichigo grumbled, a blush creeping its way onto his cheeks.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Lucy asked as if she were scolding him.
"In his defense, I did kinda make him take a random job. Plus I don't think Ichigo is the type of guy to take this kind of request… its more up the master's alley." Natsu stated sheepishly, though he did raise a good point.
At the very least the celestial mage also appeared to believe that this was the case, otherwise she would have continued on with her rant. However, she then tapped her chin in thought, as if considering the words of the dragon slayer.
"Fair point… but that still doesn't change the fact that he is still basically a security guard with a front and center seat to watching bikini-clad models in a photo shoot!" Lucy countered.
"Not 'basically', I am one… of all the requests I could have taken, why'd it have to be this one?" Ichigo said in a defeated tone.
"At least you're not overjoyed about it… and since taking this job would make you look like a perv I could see why you wouldn't want it." Lucy conceded, giving a skeptical look at the orange-haired teen.
"Meh, we won't think any less of ya, right buddy?" Natsu chirped, looking to his feline companion for support.
"Aye! Ichigo is too awesome to hate!" Happy said in agreement.
"So you think I should do it anyway?" Ichigo asked with a quirked brow, genuinely curious given that he himself was at odds with what to do.
One option was to simply ignore the request, but that would probably just backfire in some way. Another would be to take it back to the guild, which was feasible but very much so impractical and tended to send a bad message. On the other hand, if anyone in the guild found out about it, his stay in this dimension would be much less pleasant for the foreseeable future. He always did value his reputation, after all.
"I don't see why you shouldn't…" Natsu trailed off, tapping on his chin in thought.
"Well, the request is set for a few hours from now, which means even if you took it back to the guild I doubt anyone would be able to take it." Lucy added, almost reluctantly. This was likely due to the fact that she didn't necessarily approve of the job itself, but even so she had to acknowledge which decision was better.
"Well that settles that. I still need directions to the place, Natsu." Ichigo stated. A little part of his did want them to talk him out of it, but still a commitment was a commitment no matter what, so he supposed honoring it was the best decision.
"Oh, that's easy, you just…" Natsu began.
{Fiore: Outside the Sorcerer's Weekly Studio's}
"Wow, for someone who has such a horrible memory Natsu can give good directions… who knew." Ichigo thought aloud.
The orange-haired teen had to take a train to another town over, but even so the dragon slayer was able to tell him step by step, literally, of what to do when he got off. In fact, Natsu had even lent him the money to travel to the city.
'Guess I'd better head on in…' Ichigo thought.
A moment later he waked up the entrance, at which point he was greeted by a man who seemed to have been standing outside for quite some time. There wasn't really anything distinguishing about his looks, his eyes being brown and his hair of the same color. His uniform, however, was a bright blue security guard outfit, or at least what appeared to be the equivalent of this world.
"Sorry sir, there aren't any tours going on today due to a model shoot. You'll have to come back another time." The man said as the teen approached.
"You've got it wrong. I'm here in response to the request put out to Fairy Tail." Ichigo stated.
A moment later he presented the guard with the paper he had taken from the request board. The man seemed to go over it briefly, likely to ensure that it wasn't a fake, after which he looked at the teen once more.
It appeared that he was going to say something, but evidently Ichigo was one step ahead of him as his sleeve was already rolled up and the crimson tattoo on his left arm was showing proudly.
"Well, I guess you're legitimate…" The guard said with a small chuckle, after which he handed back the paper.
"You'll need to go to the director's office. Once you enter the building just head straight down the first hall you see and then follow the signs from there. You can't miss it." He continued.
Ichigo nodded as a sign that he understood, after which he followed the guard's instructions and made his way into the building and launched head on towards completing his first quest as a Fairy Tail guild member.