Welcome Back...

Chapter 11 - Welcome Back...

{Era: Meeting Chambers of the Magic Council...}

The members of the Magic Council stood in conference, each with a pensive expression on their respective face and their thoughts rather conflicted. In traditional fashion the topic of discussion was the guild that brought out these exact feelings nearly every time it was brought up, otherwise known as Fairy Tail.

Time and time again the council had debated on whether or not they were a problem, or if they were too unruly, or if they were simply a guild of party animals whose energy could be steered towards positive ends. In any case, they were a frequent topic of discussion.

Currently, they were discussed in unison with the defeat of the dark guild Eisenwald. In truth the council owed Fairy Tail a great deal for saving the guild masters and simultaneously taking down a group of criminal wizards. Moreover, a dark and terrible demon that had hence forth not been killable was actually erased from the face of the earth, which could only be seen as a positive if they were to just look at that individual consequence of the unruly guild's actions.

At the same time, they couldn't just let them off the hook just because their actions benefited them because that would cause them to lose respect and appear as if any guild could do whatever they wanted whenever it suited them. That would just be chaos, and they couldn't very well allow that to happen. With these being the two conjoining truths of the situation, the evident dilemma of what to do presented itself.

"The dark guild Eisewald may have been defeated, but that is only one small victory in a much larger battle." Org stated.

The man was a tall and elderly in nature, having gray hair and a considerably long beard with a coupled moustache. He had pointy ears, and wore multiple layers of white robes, which appeared to be the traditional fashion of the council members.

"The number of dark guilds has been growing at quite an alarming rate." Michello added.

The man who had just spoken was a short old man with very flat brown hair that pointed outwardly in three different directions. Either side of his head also sported what appeared to be a pair of cat-like ears that appeared to be nothing more than spiked-up hair and a light-yellow tail seemed to grow out of his backside. He had a bristle-edged moustache and overall gave off the appearance of a cat by several measures of the word.

"We have to come up with a plan to eliminate them all." Leji piped in.

He was a fairly tall middle-aged man with large lips, tan skin, black hair coupled with huge sideburns, and bits of hair covering his chin. He sported a pair of small, round, shaded glassed and also wore a cloak typical of a magic council member, only he chose to wear the hood up as opposed to the others' choice.

"But how would we do that?" Belno questioned.

The female council member was a tall elderly woman with sandy-blonde hair tied in a large pony-tail style. She too wore a robe like the other council members but underneath she sported a purple turtle-neck, being the only one on the council who actually did so.

"This situation does present us with a clear dilemma, but at the same time at least one part of Zeref's magic has been destroyed." Org replied.

"Even so we must also consider how Eisenwald managed to get their hands on such a powerful form of dark magic in the first place." Yajima reasoned.

He was a short elderly man with thick light-brown eyebrows, and a small toothbrush moustache. Incidentally he was one of the only members without a robe, choosing to wear a brown long sleeved shirt with a very odd black three-spiked hat.

"I hate to say it, but the blame may extend all the way to the highest levels." Michello stated.

"Whatever the case, although they're usually just a thorn in our sides, Fairy Tail proved to be quite useful." Seigrain commented.

The male member of the magic council had slightly long blue hair, brown eyes, and an intricately designed red tattoo that was located above and under his right eye. He wore a long white tunic with black stripes across the edges overtop a dark shirt and matching pants and shoes. His disposition, however, was rather arrogant or at the very least a more smugly oriented sense of calmness.

"They took down and entire guild with just a handful of wizards. That is quite a feat." Ultear added, bringing a sleeve to cover her mouth as she spoke.

The woman who spoke had slightly pale skin, red lipstick lightly coating her lips, dark-purple hair, and brown eyes. She had a noticeably voluptuous figure and currently wore a variation of the council's uniform consisting of a rather bland white garb that covered her upper and lower body, a dark-yellow sash that tied around her waist, a red collar-like object around her neck, as well as the left arm being long sleeved and the right having no sleeve whatsoever. She appeared to be rather playful in nature, but simultaneously had the capability of being serious when the time called for it.

"You may not want to accept it but that's the reality of the situation. In the end the attack on the guild masters was prevented, lives were spared, and none of us had to give up our hard earned positions on this council to save face." Seigrain stated.

"You fool, are you insinuating the council is somehow to blame?!" Leji exclaimed.

"That's enough! We must get back to the topic at hand." Org stated.

"Speaking of which, it should specifically be taken into consideration that the forbidden Lullaby was successfully destroyed, something we have been incapable of doing thus far." Seigrain said.

"That fact only makes the situation more complicated than it already is. There was a reason that we were unable to destroy it and even now we don't know how this was possible. Moreover the wizard that is said to have destroyed it is someone we do not have any previous records of." Org countered.

"Yes, and we can't overlook the fact that someone capable of such power should not have been able to go under the radar of the Magic Council for so long, it doesn't make any sense." Belno added.

"We do have records of him being present during the events that lead to the capture of Bora of Prominence. He apparently fought off the man alongside Natsu Dragneel." Ultear stated.

"So this man appeared out of thin air and is capable of doing the impossible with his magic? I find that extremely troubling…" Org replied.

"All the more reason to bring him to us and inquire about his history, wouldn't you say?" Seigrain reasoned.

"What would you have us do?" Org asked.

"We require a scapegoat from Fairy Tail, someone who is well known, and we also require an audience with this mysterious wizard that has done what we all thought to be impossible. However, simply bringing him along as the scapegoat won't be enough, therefore I suggest we pick an iconic Fairy Tail wizard and play it off as having both of them being punished." Seigrain suggested, smirking as that idea seemed to sit very well with the other members of the council.

"Interesting, so you are suggesting that we bring this man alongside another and use that as an excuse to question him… that would work out rather well for us, and seeing as how it allows us to hit two birds with one stone I do not see any reason to deny your plan's viability." Org replied.

"Still, who would you suggest we bring in alongside this mysterious Fairy Tail mage?" Michello inquired, prompting the blue-haired man to smirk amusedly.

"Oh, I know just the person…" Seigrain began.

{Magnolia: Fairy Tail Guildhall}

The doors to the large wooden building opened rather suddenly, drawing the attention of each of the members that currently sat within it, be they looking for work or simply passing the time with friends.

Among the group was the master, Erza, Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Happy, and Ichigo, each of whom were deathly quiet. Natsu and Gray simply glared at one another while the blonde-haired celestial mage just stared at them with a deadpanned expression with Happy sitting atop her shoulder. Their respective looks gave away nothing, but the remaining three seemed to give off the impression something bad had happened.

Master Makarov looked rather annoyed, more specifically it was the look he gave off whenever he received a rather extensive damage report. Erza appeared to be feeling rather guilty, almost as if she blamed herself in some manner for what had happened, and Ichigo just gave off a somewhat defeated look.

"Hello Mater Makarov, you're back earlier than expected." Mirajane greeted cheerfully.

"Yes… I am, aren't I?" Makarov replied, directing a glare at the orange-haired teen to his right.

'I'm missing something here…' Mira thought, looking at both the master and the substitute confusedly.

"I said I was sorry…" Ichigo trailed off, not even bothering to look back at the elderly mage to see the look on his face.

The entire trip back to Magnolia, Makarov had been giving him the same look whenever the topic of what had happened was brought up. That, incidentally, happened numerous occasions on the train ride given that Natsu would continuously bug him about how strong the attack was, which also occurred more than was necessary because said dragon slayer would keep forgetting the explanation that was given to him. Needless to say the look of annoyance was deeply imprinted into his memory for the time being.

"I know you did, but that doesn't mean I can't still make you feel guilty about it." Makarov pointed out, his expression unchanging.

Ichigo just sighed tiredly as if to say he knew on some level he deserved it. At the same time it hadn't been his intention to destroy the conference hall, but that still didn't change the fact he blew it into smithereens.

"You know, this is kinda funny when it isn't happening to me." Natsu commented, releasing a slight chuckle.

"And I'm so glad you can find this entertaining." Ichigo commented sarcastically.

"Aye!" Happy chirped.

"Master, once again I will say that the responsibility for what happened lies with me. I was the head of the mission hence it is my duty to bear the burden of anything going awry." Erza stated.

"And let Ichigo off the hook so easily? Fat chance…" Makarov replied. He released a slight chuckle upon hearing an annoyed groan from his right, though whatever fun he might have had was interrupted by a rather confused barmaid.

"Some context would be nice…" Mira said.

"Oh, well you see these five decided to take on a dark guild that was trying to kill off everyone at the Guild Master's Conference by using a form of death magic created by the black wizard Zeref. They did win, but I'd like it if Ichigo would kindly finish the story for me." Makarov requested.

"Fine… anyway, some kind of demon called Lullaby appeared and tried to finish the job that Eisenwald couldn't. Now, in my defense, it was really huge…" Ichigo began.

"I can attest to that. It was relatively the size of a small mountain." Erza commented.

"Yeah… so when I went to beat it I couldn't see thee conference hall behind it, and I…" Ichigo said, only to be cut off.

"You blew up the conference hall, didn't you?" Cana guessed, releasing a slight chuckle upon receiving a nod of confirmation from the orange-haired teen.

"Wait, so you destroyed a demon that big with one attack?" Mira asked, sounding awestruck. It wasn't every day that she heard news of something like that happening, and it also gave away a good bit about how strong their latest member's abilities were.

"Yeah, it was frickin' awesome!" Natsu shouted excitedly.

"For once I agree." Gray piped in.

"Aye!" Happy said.

"It was pretty impressive…" Lucy commented.

"Indeed." Erza said, honesty prevalent in her tone.

"Wow, must've been a hell of an attack." Cana reasoned from her position at the bar.

The rest of the guild seemed to nod or mutter in agreement on that, but the fact remained that the master himself wasn't quite so taken aback by the attack that it made him lose track of what was really important.

"You're all missing the point!" Makarov exclaimed, a tick mark popping gout on his forehead.

"And that was…" Ichigo trailed off as if requesting for the master to clarify.

"That my mini-vacation was ruined…" Makarov replied in a saddened tone. Shortly thereafter he began to cry streams of faux-tears, wailing all the while.

'He definitely isn't going to let this go.' Ichigo thought, releasing an inward groan.

"The master will be fine, Ichigo. For now I would just advise you just avoid bringing up recent events." Erza stated.

"Alright…" Ichigo replied.

It made sense to just give the old man some space since he obviously wasn't going to just drop what had happened. At the very least the fact that he didn't seem truly mad was a good sign, but, even so, time would be needed before this blew over. With those thoughts in mind, the orange-haired teen walked over to the main bar, and slammed his head onto the wooden surface just wishing for a brief moment that the master's wailing wouldn't be able to reach his ears.

'Nope, didn't work.' Ichigo thought. His inward self-loathing was then cut off upon hearing the characteristic giggle of the bubbly white-haired barmaid that worked at the guild. He pulled his head up a moment later, taking note that yet another person seemed to get some sense of humor out of his stupidity. In some way that was a silver lining.

"Rough day?" Mira asked in a friendly manner.

"It wasn't too bad all in all… I guess I just need to work on my aim a little bit." Ichigo replied, chuckling slightly.

"Well, you can't have everything going exactly as planned. How you got here in the first place would be a good example of that, I guess." Mira said.

"Yeah, you're right about that. To be honest though, I'm just happy to be back. That road trip was annoying, way too much train travel for my tastes." Ichigo thought aloud.

"I get what you mean. One of the good things about working in the guild hall itself is that I don't have to travel too far." Mira replied, smiling as she always did.

The conversation the two were currently engaging in was cut off for a brief period of time by a collective bout of giggling that sounded off from a nearby table. Hearing this, Ichigo turned and saw a group of five women staring almost directly at him, still continuing with their girlish laughter all the while despite the fact that he was currently looking at them.

It took a few seconds, but eventually they noticed that he was looking directly at them, and with that one of the female wizards 'shushed' the rest and they took their eyes off of him. However, simply because their laughter had stopped didn't mean that Ichigo's confusion had. It still remained to be seen why on earth they were staring at him in the first place.

"That was… weird." Ichigo thought aloud, sounding confused.

"Yes, it really was." Mira commented, a blank expression on her face as she continued to wash cups.

In all honesty she had thought, for a moment, that the girls were staring at her, but it was very clearly the man that kept her company. That in mind, she was still just as lost as he was.

"What was that about?" Ichigo asked, turning around once again to look at the white-haired woman.

"I don't really know." Mira replied honestly.

"You really don't know? Well then, I might be able to help you out a bit…" Cana mused as she walked up to the bar, a smirk etched on her face.

"Um… did something happen?" Ichigo asked confusedly.

"Why don't you see for yourself?" Cana replied, releasing a chuckle as she spoke.

The brown-haired woman's words confused the two individuals that had heard her, mostly because they were very ambiguous and not all too helpful. Ichigo raised a curious brow, preparing to ask what she had meant, but he stopped himself upon the woman presenting him with a magazine and placing it directly in front of him on the wooden surface of the bar.

"Sorcerer's Weekly?" Ichigo wondered aloud, looking back at the booze enthusiast upon taking the magazine into his own hands.

"It just came out this morning. Go to page seven and trust me when I say you'll understand." Cana stated.

Immediately thereafter the substitute turned to the page that the renowned drinker had asked him to, and no sooner than he did that did his face light up in a brilliant shade of red.

"Dammit…" Ichigo sighed out, burying his face into his hands and dropping the magazine as he did so.

"What could be so bad?" Mirajane wondered aloud.

The white-haired woman took the magazine and turned to the page in question, after which she instantly understood why Ichigo had reacted the way he did. The entirety of the page was a large image of the very same group photo that the both of them had been a part of. Naturally this would be embarrassing for him, most likely because he didn't want to take it in the first place, but even so he had to know this would happen eventually. After all, he did take a wonderful photo.

However, two things were amiss about the picture that Mira immediately took note of. Firstly, the blush on Ichigo's face had been toned down a good amount. You could still make out a little bit of it on the photo, but it made him look more innocent and charming which was likely why they kept it that way.

The second thing she noticed, and the more glaring of the two, caused the barmaid to blush herself. While taking the photo she had thought herself to be nowhere near as close as she did in the final print. Her chest was pressing up against the substitute's shoulder blade, something that did happen but she perceived it as only a slight touch.

"Oh my…" Mira muttered, bringing a hand up to cover one of her cheek so as to prevent a certain brown-haired woman from seeing her heated face.

"By the way, nice abs Ichigo…" Cana abruptly commented, a wicked smirk present on her features as she did so.

"I… um… I…" Ichigo mumbled, trying and failing to find an excuse for why the photo was taken in the first place. Realistically there was no way he could convey the story that made him look good.

"You should do these photo shoots more often." Cana said, winking at the teen and effectively causing his blush to deepen.

"I-It was a onetime thing! Plus I was asked to by all of the models so I really couldn't say no." Ichigo replied defensively.

"Really… all of them you say?" Cana wondered aloud, redirecting her devilish smirk towards the barmaid.

The white-haired woman knew perfectly well where this conversation was heading, and she really didn't like it one bit. In fact, she gave a slight glare at the talented binge drinker as if to warn her that this was the case.

"Now I wonder why Mirajane would do something like that." Cana said playfully.

"Cana…" Mirajane muttered warningly.

"Oh, is that the latest issue of Sorcerer's Magazine?" Lucy asked, walking over to the bar and joining the others.

"Yes, it is. Help yourself, though I advise you look at page seven first." Cana said, taking her eyes off of the barmaid and redirecting them towards the incoming blonde.

Upon hearing this, Mira released an inward sigh of relief. The last thing she needed was to be teased relentlessly by Cana since her threats could only go so far to quell the woman's urge to mess with people. It did seem a bit unfortunate that it occurred due to the fact that Ichigo was such an easy target, but even so.

"Oh wow, nice abs!" Lucy exclaimed upon seeing the picture.

"That's what I said!" Cana stated.

Once again the group of females that were likely close enough to hear the conversation began to giggle, only this time in a more perverse manner. This, in turn, caused Ichigo to release a groan and once again 'gently' place his head against the wooden surface of the bar.

"What is it that you are all looking at?" Erza asked curiously as she came up to the group.

The substitute heard the distinct sound of the magazine being taken into the redhead's metal-covered hands, at which point he brought his head up once more and fully expected to be hit or something for how unseemly the photo was. Somewhat to his surprise, the strongest of Fairy Tail's female wizards just blushed before placing the magazine on the bar once more.

"I-I would have never expected such things from you, Ichigo." Erza said, her expression being one of clear surprise.

"It wasn't my idea in the first place!" Ichigo exclaimed.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" Natsu asked as he too came up towards the group.

The pink-haired teen instantly took the magazine off the bar, took it in his hand, and looked directly at the page that Erza had so kindly laid flat against the surface. He then turned to look at Ichigo and released a slight chuckle.

"So this is how you got the extra 50,000 Jewel." Natsu reasoned.

"That's all you got? Whoever paid you got a huge deal off of that one." Cana stated before taking the magazine back in her hands and looking at the picture once again.

"W-what?" Ichigo stuttered, his blush coming back once again.

"Oh don't play dumb. Female wizards read this stuff just as much as the male ones do, and sometimes for the exact same… visual pleasures." Cana finished, making sure she over exaggerated the degree to which she was looking at the photo.

'Why me?!' Ichigo thought, releasing an outward sigh. Thus far he currently had a reputation as someone who blew up a building and managed to annoy the master, the last thing he thought he needed was something like this.

"Ehem… I um… I highly doubt that the picture will end up being all that popular." Mira said in an attempt to comfort the orange-haired teen. She did feel somewhat guilty since, after all, it was partially her fault he took the picture.

Her words, however, caused Cana to look at her with an expression of disbelief, after which she turned the magazine around and set the picture directly in the barmaid's line of sight.

"It could be worse…" Mira continued, though she sounded far more unsure than prior. The brown-haired wizard simply moved the picture closer to the point that it was directly in front of her face as a result.

"Is it too late to say sorry?" Mira asked jokingly.

"It's… it's not such a huge deal. It'll roll over eventually." Ichigo replied, though in truth he was not entirely sure of that.

"Oh, is that the latest issue of Sorcerer's Magazine?" Makarov asked as he came over.

Ichigo wanted to sigh, but at this point he just didn't care. As a result, he said not a word as the collection of photos and articles was handed down to the shortly-built wizard. In fact, the very same page that had thus far caught everyone's attention was still opened wide.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Makarov roared, almost buckling over at the sight of the picture.

"What's so damn funny?" Ichigo asked, blushing slightly since he was very clearly being mocked.

"You know, I just never pictured you as a model, Ichigo, what with you seeming like a prude and all." Makarov thought aloud, wiping away a tear from his eye.

"I am not a prude!" Ichigo shouted defensively.

"Clearly not… BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Makarov laughed out.

"That's… you just… how can… whatever." Ichigo said, just accepting the fact that he couldn't really defend himself in this instance.

"Cheer up my boy! I've got something to say that might brighten up your mood a little bit." Makarov stated, ceasing his boisterous laughter.

The words of the elderly wizard somewhat confused those who had heard him, but none of them bothered to say anything given that a moment later the master jumped atop the bar and made to address the entire guild.

"Listen up everyone! I've got somethin' to say about what happened over at the conference I went to. Now I'm not all too happy about the damages, but I'll tell you one thing, the job got done! A demon from the book of Zeref was taken down by Fairy Tail wizards, some of the strongest Fairy Tail wizards we have, and on top of that we took on a dark guild and tore them to shreds. If that ain't worth celebrating I don't know what is, so let's make up for my lost vacation time!" Makarov stated.

The entire guild erupted into cheers a moment later, shortly after which everyone lunged at one another. Normally someone would have done something about it, but perhaps a celebration of some kind was in order.

"Well, I can't say I didn't see that coming." Ichigo thought aloud, starting into the virtual dust cloud of smoke with fists and feet swinging all around and within it.

"They're just letting loose, my boy. Do me a favor and let them enjoy the day, and yes I'm lookin' at you Erza." Makarov said as he jumped down from his position at the bar.

"I will do no such thing unless things get out of hand." Erza replied, though she did sound slightly disappointed that she wasn't currently allowed to do anything. It was just nice to always have the option.

The redhead just sat down on a nearby barstool, obviously not wanting any part to do with the fight. She appeared to be very calm, which was really saying something given that it was exceedingly noisy in the guild at the moment. Mira continued to go on as she always did, and Cana simply walked off towards a table away from the fight with a mug in her hand and a small smile etched on her face.

"Speaking of fights, why aren't you diving into this one?" Ichigo asked, turning to face the pink-haired teen to his left.

"Hehehe, well normally I would, but I wanted to introduce you to a few people that I don't think you've had the chance to meet yet." Natsu replied, his characteristic grin present on his features.

"Really? Who'd you have in mind?" Ichigo asked.

The pink-haired dragon slayer just gestured Ichigo to follow him with his hand as opposed to giving a verbal response, after which the two began to walk across the guild to a nearby table.

At said table sat four individuals that he had seen before around the guild but had never really spoken to. They all seemed rather cheerful if their respective friendly smiles were anything to go by, which at least implied they were approachable.

Among the group were a total of three men and a single girl who looked to be at maximum seventeen years of age, and that was being generous. Three sat on one side of the table while a lone male sat on the other, appearing as if they had been conversing before he and Natsu had decided to come up to them.

One of the wizards was a slim young-looking man with orange hair though most of it was hidden under a tall brown and white striped hat with alternating colors. The teen wore an open light-brown coat that had yellowish fur trimmings overtop a collared purple shirt with its collar mostly left hanging open. His lower body was covered in nothing more than a standard looking pair of shoes and black pants.

The man that sat nearest to him was a tall, slim young man with black hair styled in a very distinctive manner. He wore a simple white t-shirt with checkered green pants and a pair of dark shoes with soles that appeared to be on the lighter side.

The one and only female, incidentally, sat between these two and appeared to be the most friendly, if not the most approachable, of the group. This particular wizard was a young, petite girl with a slender build and shoulder-length blue hair that was held up by a colorful bandana. She wore an orange dress with a bow tied over her shoulders and makings its appearance between her breasts.

Last among the group was the man that sat across from them. He was a rather large muscular individual with tan-colored skin and spikey white hair that was styled upwards. The man wore what seemed like something akin to a school uniform by the standards of the substitute's world, its appearance being a simple dark-blue jacket with purple innards complete with a pair of matching pants.

"I was wondering when we'd finally get to meet the man from another world." The tall-hatted individual thought aloud.

"Be nice." The only female gently chided.

"Yeah, sorry about that, but I haven't really gotten a chance to meet everyone just yet. My name's Ichigo Kurosaki, it's nice to meet the four of you." Ichigo began.

"My name's Jet, and my buddy here is Droy. We're two-thirds of one of Fairy Tail's best teams." The orange-haired wizard stated.

"I'd be the last part of that team. My name is Levy McGarden, and I and my two friends over here make up Shadow Gear." The blue-haired girl said in a friendly manner.

"Shadow Gear? Is that the name of your team?" Ichigo guessed, eliciting a nod from the petite young mage.

"Don't worry, our team will get one eventually, we just gotta come up with a name." Natsu said reassuringly.

"I wasn't too worried about that, and back on topic, I noticed you weren't really mentioned in that team. So what's your name?" Ichigo asked, looking at the white-haired man.

"I'm Eflman Strauss, and before you ask that's not a coincidence. Mirajane is my big sister." The muscular man stated, ending with a small chuckle.

"I can see that, not too many people have white hair that I've seen." Ichigo thought aloud.

"Same could be said about orange hair too ya know." Elfman pointed out jokingly.

"Anyway, how do you like being a member of the guild so far?" Levy inquired, smiling brightly as she spoke.

"I like it a lot actually. It gets a bit too loud for my tastes sometimes but I can manage." Ichigo replied.

"Yeah, I can get that. I'm really not one to rush into a fight, I'd much rather prefer to read a good book." Levy replied bashfully.

"Oh, you like to read? Maybe you should introduce yourself to Lucy, she seemed to like books a hell of a lot from what I could tell." Ichigo suggested.

"Actually Natsu already introduced us. I think it's really cool that she's writing her own novel, and I sort of made her promise to let me read it when it's done." Levy replied.

"Really…" Ichigo trailed off, giving a glance towards the pink-haired dragon slayer.

"Hey, I'm introducing you now, aren't I?" Natsu countered.

"So tell us about yourself! If you got the master to believe you weren't really from this dimension I'm just dying to know where you come from and what it looks like." Levy said excitedly.

"Not much I can really say about what it looks like since nothing can really compare to seeing it in person, but if you're asking about me personally, I'd say I…" Ichigo began.

"Oh there's no need for you to be so boring about introducing yourself Ichigo! Here, let me help you out a bit." Cana chirped as she took a seat down at the table next to the white-haired man.

"Hey Cana, did the two of you already meet?" Levy asked curiously.

"Yup, but I didn't really get a chance to ask him anything. Right now though I want to play a bit of a game that might give us some insight as to what's underneath that scowl of his… figuratively speaking, I've already seen most of the good stuff, after all." Cana stated, giggling at the recollection of the orange-haired teen's picture.

"Oh my…" Levy muttered, a blush coming to her face. She knew perfectly well about the picture, but even so that was only one of the two meanings behind the avid drinker's words.

"Will you cut it out already?!" Ichigo exclaimed in an annoyed fashion, a blush clearly coming onto his cheeks.

"Easy there pretty boy, I was just kidding. Anyway, aren't you at all interested in what I meant by what I said?" Cana asked.

"Would it surprise you if I said no?" Ichigo growled out, not entirely trusting the brown-haired wizard given what he knew about her personality thus far.

"Now that hurts me a little bit, but I guess I had that coming. Anyway, the type of magic I use is card magic and one of its uses is revealing someone's personality through something similar to fortune telling. However this is a thousand times more accurate than those cheap hacks." Cana stated.

"Come on Ichigo, it sounds like it'd be fun!" Natsu said cheerfully, patting his friend on the back in a childish manner.

"Guess it couldn't hurt…" Ichigo thought aloud before taking a seat.

The brown-haired woman then shuffled a series of cards in a very experienced manner, doing several difficult tricks as she gracefully prepared the deck. Everyone else sat in place looking at the events, and even a few that weren't present zoned in on the game with their ears so as to listen in on the conversation.

Cana's fortune cards were actually quite accurate when reading people, and, even though most people never bothered to use them since it would likely end badly for them, this was a rare instance in which the booze enthusiast was likely to hold back on any tricks. This was clearly only put to rest in favor of actually getting some semblance of information about the orange-haired teen's personality.

"Alright then… are you ready to start?" Cana asked, smirking as she set the deck down on the surface of the wooden table.

"As I'll ever be." Ichigo replied blankly.

A series of four columns each holding three cards was placed directly in front of him a moment later, after which the remainder of the cards were placed directly to the brunette's right, obviously no longer holding any use for the purposes of her 'little trick'.

"Now this one's a pretty easy game. Just point to a card in one of these columns and I will flip it. The cards themselves are actually blank so no matter which you pick the result will likely be the same." Cana stated.

"Then why the hell did you put out so many in the first place?" Ichigo asked in an annoyed tone.

"To show off of course." Cana replied, smirking devilishly as she did so.

"Fine…" Ichigo said.

A moment later he gestured his finger towards a card in the first row, most of those nearby paying very close attention to what was about to occur. Whether it was out of curiosity or boredom, a fair amount of people had made their way over. Lucy, Erza, as well as Gray had come up behind Natsu to get a better vantage point, and even Mirajane had opted to 'serve' in the area around the table the events were occurring on.

"Then the first card is…" Cana began, after which she made to flip the playing card.

When the object was finally turned over it revealed the image of a knight in shining armor. He road no horse and bore no lance, but instead simply stood in the ground and carried a pitch black sword. That, however, wasn't the most noticeable aspect of the magical card. Behind the knight stood two women, one clad in white with long orange hair, and one clad in black with raven hair as dark as night. Ichigo's eyes actually widened as the direct similarities to what he had done a little over a year ago weren't lost to him by any means.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Looks like a knight in shining armor looking after a few damsels in distress. From what I can tell, this implies you're a protector by definition, someone who'll risk his life to save those precious to him. I'd also say by the two women in this card that you're a bit of a playboy." Cana mused, giving the teen a teasing smirk as she did so.

"That last part is completely wrong, but yes, I'd say that about sums up my reasons for fighting. When I got my powers it was never for my own personal gain, and I've never seen them as tools that I use for myself even after I got stronger. The way I saw it, if I couldn't protect the people I cared about then they weren't useful at all. Another Reason is my name, once I learned what it meant I knew that I had to live up to it as it would be disrespectful to my parents for naming me with it, 'One Guardian' that's what it means and that's what I'll live up to, by protecting those precious to me" Ichigo replied, a light blush on his face at the teased implication of the card-magic user.

'Why does that not surprise me?' Natsu, Erza, and Mira thought similarly.

'Heh, somehow I knew I had you pegged right from the start my boy.' Makarov thought with a smile, having heard the teen's declaration from a nearby table. He may be the guild's master, but even he was curious as to what the cards would reveal, so to speak.

"I see… so not a playboy then?" Cana teased.

"Will you just drop it?" Ichigo growled out.

"Okay, okay… go ahead and pick another card then." Cana requested.

Shortly thereafter yet another card was pointed to, after which it was flipped over once again. This time, however, the card was far more symbolic of actions than personality. It was the image of a man holding the world over his shoulders, clear cut and to the point.

"So you're someone who is willing to hold up the world all by himself it he needs to, always looking out for others and never himself despite what you must give up to do so." Cana stated.

"I can't deny that one." Ichigo admitted uncaringly. It was actually a bit funny to him that this particular card happened to come up. Just one year ago he recalled a series of events that gave off that exact impression.

"I'm seeing a trend here. You're someone who protects and doesn't care what he loses in order to do so, that combination is as dangerous as it is noble and charming." Cana said jokingly.

Natsu and Erza smiled, one more reserved than the other, but still each was smiling nonetheless. The entire definition of their existence was to look out for their guild mates, despite whatever idiotic actions they decided to take. Every single one of them was their family, and family wasn't something you ever turned your back on. However, these thoughts were not the consensus among those who had heard.

'Yes, it is definitely noble, but even so Cana isn't wrong. With an attitude like that it makes me wonder how he can ever really be happy.' Mira thought.

It was actually quite saddening, looking out for everyone else while having the most fantastic abilities. However, Mira couldn't quite decide what aspect of it was more saddening, the fact that it lead to Ichigo's own potential lack of joy, or the fact that she wished more than anything that she had been capable of seeing the world like that before losing her powers. Perhaps if she had been less focused on her own abilities and growth as a wizard, she would still be able to hold one of the people she treasured most.

"That one right there." Ichigo said, breaking everyone present out of their thoughts.

The brown-haired wizard nodded as a sign that she had heard him loud and clear, after which she flipped the playing card, revealing something that caused several to sweatdrop at the sight of it. The image was just a decimated structure coated in flames with the black silhouette of a man standing over its apparent remains.

"Okay… I think this one's pretty straightforward. You've got a talent for destroying things and fighting in general." Cana stated.

"That's an understatement!" Makarov exclaimed before downing another drink.

"Will you just forget about that already?!" Ichigo shouted angrily, turning to face the elderly wizard with a tick mark popping out of his forehead. Several chuckled at this, but sadly the master wasn't one of them.

"It happened yesterday night, how am I supposed to drop it this quickly?" Makarov countered, an alcohol-induced blush present on his cheeks.

"Anyway…" Cana muttered, bringing the orange-haired teen's attention back to the table.

"Oh right, sorry about that… that one right there." Ichigo said, tapping one of the cards in the final row.

Cana nodded a moment later, after which she flipped the magic card like she had with each previous, however this time was substantially different. It was the image of a man staring directly out of the card, which wasn't all that strange, but then again that wasn't the most glaring aspect of the picture. Behind the man stood what appeared to be a pitch black shadow, though it wasn't that of the man's. It was the image of a being similar in form to a demon that possessed golden eyes, claws, and a set of horn protruding forwards out of its head.

'What is that?' Many wondered, having never seen this card actually come out of the fortune teller's deck before.

"The inner demon… you've got a temper then, huh?" Cana asked jokingly in an attempt to diffuse the situation. She really didn't have any idea behind the card's meaning outside of this guess. For some reason her magic couldn't read the actual meaning, which had never truly happened before.

The booze enthusiast had personally hoped very much so that this was the case, however the reaction she got from Fairy Tail's latest member told her that such hopes were easily shattered. The slight pained expression was something she caught a glimpse of for only a moment, and she may very well have been the only one to see it, but still she did.

'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…' Cana thought, releasing an inward sigh.

"Yeah… that must be it." Ichigo replied calmly.

Those who stood around them were either lost in thought, confused, or had no idea what was going on. Despite the difference in inward feelings and thoughts, one thing remained constant, and that was the awkward silence that ensued upon the card being revealed.

"Okay, well, that was fun and all, but I think we're done. How about I get you a drink for being a good sport?" Cana offered, successfully diffusing the situation.

"No thanks, I haven't ever really had alcohol before, so I…" Ichigo began.

"WOAH! You're telling me that you've never had a drink before?! Mira, get him a drink right now!" Cana exclaimed, sounding genuinely panicked. It seemed she truly did take alcohol seriously no matter the situation.

"No thanks… drinking isn't really my thing to begin with." Ichigo said sternly.

"The hell it isn't! Mira, do whatever you did to get him in the picture and get him to take a drink." Cana requested, her tone sounding serious.

"I wouldn't mind seeing him with his shirt off in person!" A female yelled out.

Ichigo immediately whipped around, a blush evident on his face, in an effort to see whoever it was that made that comment. This, in turn, caused several near him to laugh, but everyone seemed to miss the ever-so-slight scowl that made its way onto the barmaid's face upon hearing that comment being randomly yelled out by one of the guild's female wizards.

"Come on Ichigo… one drink." Cana said, holding up a fresh mug to the substitute's face.

The orange-haired teen turned around once more, directing his sights towards the mug that was just within his reach. He knew full well that the brown-haired wizard wasn't going to let this go anytime soon, especially if her orientation towards binge drinking was anything to go by. With that in mind, he released a heavy sigh of annoyance and slumped his shoulders momentarily, after which he chose to speak once more.

"Fine, one drink, that's it." Ichigo said sternly, taking the mug in his hands.

"Of course… just one drink…" Cana replied, hiding the smirk that came onto her lips with the mug that she herself drank from.