Stranger in a strange land

By Quick-n-Popular

Disclaimer: "Naruto" and "Fairy Tail" do not belong to me, nor will they ever.

A/N: This story follows "Naruto" up to a point and then becomes an alternate universe or reality, what have you. This story begins roughly three months before Natsu and Happy head off to Hardgeon to investigate the Igneel rumor. It will follow Fairy Tail's canon but will veer off into original story and material from time to time. All OC's are owned by me.

Chapter One: The Shinobi Patient, part one.

It was just another day at the rambunctious Magic Guild known as Fairy Tail. There was laughter, humor, and friendship. Wizards came and went with job requests, most eagerly to make both money and a name for themselves. Others just enjoyed each others' company or to talk about the goings on in Fiore.

The Master of Fairy Tail, Makarov, sipped his beer as he casually glimpsed at what his Fairy Tail children were doing. Peaceful days like these were the ones he enjoyed the most, that is until he had to go before the Magic Council and get a lecture about what his "children" did when out on the job. Still, the day was good no matter. However, today felt particularly ominous.

Just to his luck and that to his children, a wave of Sleep Magic fell over everyone, Makarov included. However, unlike his unsuspecting children, he was prepared. Everyone in the Guild fell sound asleep except Makaov, who just remained drowsy. In a second, another one of Fairy Tail's members arrived. The caster of the Sleep Magic, Mystogan, slowly made his way in the entrance.

To Makarov's surprise, he wasn't alone. Rather, he was carrying someone in. The person seemed to be a teen with spiky blonde hair, which was the only distinguishable feature as the rest of his body was wrapped up in bandages and the only article of clothing was a pair of burnt orange pants.

Mystogan was a social recluse and kept to himself. For him to bring someone obviously injured back to the Guild meant that something caught his attention about them.

Mystogan came to a stop, the person, whose arm was draped around Mystogan's shoulder, swayed limply like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Makarov studied the figure before setting his eyes on the masked S-class Wizard of his Guild.

"Welcome back, Mystogan."

"Master," Mystogan intoned, "An unexpected development happened with the job to take down the Dark Guild, Sinister Sparrow."

Makarov set down his drink and shifted his staff before nodding his head, "Go on."

"I took care of most of the Guild's members, but some had escaped to the basement level. There they had tried to attack but were quickly subdued. After securing them for the arrival of the Rune Knights, I explored a little and discovered a cell with this person, who was unconscious and chained to the wall. According to some of the notes found in the Guild, he seemed to have been burned when they had found him. He tried to fight them using magic they had never seen before. Before passing out from his injuries, he seemed to be confused."

Makarov nodded and looked carefully at the bandaged individual who didn't seem to be exuding any type of detectable magic. However, neither did Mystogan when he first arrived to Fairy Tail. Looking back at the man, he closed his eyes.

"I see. So why bring him here instead of handing him over to the Rune Knights?"

Mystogan, suddenly uncomfortable, was quiet before answering, softly.

"He may be in a situation close to my own."

Makarov sighed, "I see. I'm also guessing Porlyusica was not at home, when you tried her before coming here."

Mystogan's silence was his answer.

"Take him to the infirmary in the back, I'll be there to check on him in a bit. Make sure you lift your magic before you leave again, I don't want the children to suddenly fall into a collective coma."

Three days later...

Levy McGarden walked with a skip in her step as she left her apartment and walked along the street in Magnolia on her way to Fairy Tail. Today was going to be a relief as both Jet and Droy were taking on some solo jobs, in an effort to prove which one of them was better, which left Levy some time away from the two of them. Of course, she would look at the Job Board to see if there was anything she could do by herself, so as not to get rusty.

Levy took in a breath and smiled before opening the doors and walking inside the Guild. The place, as usual, was filled with chatter. With Natsu and Gray away on missions it was a little too quiet but it wouldn't matter to Levy anyway.

With a quick "Hello" to Mirajane, she approached the board where Nab was trying his best to look like he was considering an assignment; Levy said 'Hi' to him as well, but he pretended he didn't notice. Looking back at the board, she scanned each request, trying to look for something that she herself could do alone. She was about to choose the 'Library Cataloging' request when she saw a peculiar one at the bottom left hand corner.

Taking off the pin, she looked it over. It was a request to take care of a recovering individual who was unresponsive. The duty included using a salve on his wounds and talking to him. The reward was 30,000 Jewels.

Nodding to herself, Levy took the request to Mira.

"Mira, I'd like to take this job."

Mirajane, who was filling up a beer stein for Macao, smiled and took the job request and looked it over.

"The client for this one, is our very own Master." Surprising Levy, "The person is in the Infirmary, let me show you to him."

Levy followed Mira around the bar to a back door which led to a series of beds. In the corner, where a curtain was circled around the bed, was a shadow of a person laying down. There was a second, smaller person, standing on what looked like a chair; that soon got off and opened the curtain, revealing himself to be the Master, Makarov.

"Master! Levy, here, accepted your job request to look after our mystery guest!"

Makarov smiled and looked up at Levy. "Happy to hear it! Actually, it's good that it's you, Levy. I need you to look at something for me."

Levy then followed the Master back to the curtained bed, which then he pulled the curtain and showed the patient to Levy. The petite bluenette froze as she looked at who she was going to be caring for. It was a boy, roughly her age or maybe a little older. He had spiky blonde hair and was incredibly burnt. Half of his face, most of his upper body, and legs were either blackened or blistering red. His waist was the only thing left unscathed and when Levy looked there she saw immediately what the Master wanted her to look at.

It looked as though it was a seal of some kind. In the center was a spiral, around it were characters that spider-webbed out, all of it covering the majority of his abs and navel.

Levy concentrated on the characters themselves, tracing her fingers against each one. To her vast, encyclopedic-knowledge, these characters were quite foreign and if the Master, who himself was knowledgeable, if not more so than Levy herself; could not decipher these, then who else but someone on the magic council could?

Tearing her eyes away, she looked back at the Master, who was standing on a chair looking at the face of the young man.

"Master, other than it looking like a seal of some kind, I can't really tell what this is. The language of the characters are something I haven't come across on in Earthland's history of language. I'm sorry."

Master Makarov closed his eyes and sighed. "That's the conclusion I came to too, child. As incredible as it might sound, this boy may not be from our world."

Levy took a startled breath and looked back at the teenaged boy who's ragged breathing came out in a whisper as he lay still.

"Do you expect him to wake up soon, Master?"

Makarov shrugged, "No way of telling. Porlyusica is under the impression that because he's not used to the Magic energy in the air, it might take him a while longer to come to." He then turned to Levy, "This mission will take the better part of a week. Will you still accept it, Levy?"

Levy nodded, immediately.

Makarov grinned and got off the chair and went to the bedside table and took a ceramic jar and handed it to Levy.

"The old bat said to use this to help treat the burns. The boy is going to scar, no matter what we do, but at least this will aid in his effort to heal himself."

Levy took the jar and winced at the potent smell coming off the substance inside. She then walked around and took the vacated seat.

Makarov, before dismissing himself, said, "If anything should occur, send a message to Mira in the lacrima on the table and she'll notify me immediately. Good luck, Levy." He then left.

Levy watched as he closed the door and then focused on the person she was attending to; most of all, his face. To her surprise, upon closer inspection, she noticed three indentations on his cheek which, as her imagination processed it, if mirrored on the burnt side; made it look as though he had whiskers.

She giggled at the idea before resuming her duty for the job request she had taken. Taking the jar into her lap, she dipped her fingers in the substance and brought out a thick layer. She, again, winced at the horrid smell of it but opened her eyes as she set her fingers on the left arm of the patient. Making slow circles, she applied the salve to the red, blistery, areas.

She continued the process until she had done both arms, face, and neck. To her embarrassment, she realized she still needed to do the chest and legs. Luckily for him and Levy, his groin and buttocks were untouched by whatever had bunt him. Still, it was a bit weird for her to be touching some guy's chest, not to mention the first time she had ever done so. Steeling herself, she began the task, and it became a little easier as long as she didn't let her mind wander too much. After finishing, she left the bed and went to an adjacent bathroom and quickly washed off the excess salve off her hands. A moment later, she was back and resumed sitting by the beside.

After all she did, the boy still hadn't moved an inch. Levy thought of what she might talk about with him. She could talk about her script magic, Jet, Droy, or the Guild itself; since she doubted the guy knew exactly where he was. Suddenly, she felt dumb. Smacking herself on top of her head, she laughed, ruefully.

"I guess I should say who I am, to you, first; right?" She smiled, "My name is Levy McGarden. I am a Wizard of Fairy Tail. I specialize in Solid Script Magic, meaning I can make words come to life. I also am fairly good at decoding and decrypting, although, whatever you have on your stomach, is proving to be a difficult challenge." Levy looked at the seal on his midsection before taking in everything burnt and charred around it, leading to his half scorched face. She closed her eyes.

"I hope, whenever you wake up, you're able to tell us how this happened to you. Was it because you were in a place that was on fire? Or were you the victim of someone's fire spell? If you tell us, I'm sure we'll be able to help you. After all, That's what Fairy Tail does. They treat their members like family and they treat others well too."

Levy continued to talk to him until night fell and she was getting tired and needed to go home. She told Mirajane, who was cleaning up the tables, that she was leaving and would be back tomorrow.

Levy continued on in the next couple of days, treating the mysterious teen's wounds, and having a one-sided discussion. Porlyusica had also come on one of the days and surveyed the result of her salve's effect on the burn victim's body. Before leaving she, offhandedly, acknowledged Levy's work and told her to continue doing it.

However, a rare thing happened which Porlyusica didn't count on with her salve. The blackened, charred, skin was flaking off too rapidly, revealing the new scarred tissue underneath. These were appearing in random areas but soon it would encompass every portion of heavily burnt skin. The pink haired healer was baffled but soon labeled it off as something only to the off-world-er's unique biology.

Levy was amazed and happy at the same time. She thought of this development as a sign that the guy was going to awake soon.

Thus, on the fourth day of her visit, she felt relief when more of his blackened skin came off. This led to another discovery about him. On his arm was a unique symbol, much like the one on his abs, but different. A symbol of a spiral with a notch at the bottom corner of it, encompassed by two lines running vertically and having a hook-like curve that went around the spiral. It was small but nonetheless less interesting. Levy marveled at it as she administered some more of Porlyusica's pale green substance to his reddened area around. However, she scratched some of his scabbing charred area, resulting in him having a small cut that was slowly bleeding.

"Oh no! I'm sorry about that!" She cried out.

Slowly the blood leaked out and came down and across the symbol. Suddenly a small puff of smoke came out of nowhere and there was a small "thump" sound as something with weight hit the floor.

Levy blinked. As soon as the smoke dissipated, she noticed the symbol on the boy's skin was no longer there. Confused, she then remembered that it sounded as something had dropped. She looked to the floor and, to her amazement, there she saw what looked like a small, brown, leather-bound journal.

Carefully picking it up, she looked from it to where the symbol on the guy's arm was and then back, coming to the realization that this journal was somehow sealed into his arm.

"Just who are you?" She wondered aloud.

She looked at the journal and had the temptation to look inside but her respect for privacy prevented her from doing so. She laid it on the table beside the bed and went back to the jar only to feel a wave of exhaustion fall on her.

"Wh...What the..."

She gripped the side of the bed as she felt her legs getting weak as her eyes grew heavy as well.

"Must be...Mysto..." She soon collapsed with her head resting against her patient's leg, sleeping soundly.

"Not quite, girly."

A tall figure shadowed by the lights having been turned off, approached the bed.

"This guy is what he's so interested in? Man, talk about crispy." He then took out a glowing lacrima, that was silver in color, and stepped forward to the edge of the bed. "I guess he sees something special in you, if he's going to such lengths. Doesn't matter to me, though."

He then lowered the lacrima onto the burnt teen's chest and a magic circle appeared before the lacrima began to sink in and disappear inside; his chest rippling before it settled.

"My job is done. Got to meet up with the others. Bye, Crispy and Girly, see you guys later or whatever."

He then stepped back and soon vanished.

Mirajane hummed to herself as she opened up the doors to the guild, the very next morning. In the step of her normal morning routine, she noticed that the door to the infirmary was left open. Sighing to herself, thinking that Levy might have forgotten to close it on her way out, she made her way in to check on their nameless resident.

To her surprise and enjoyment, she bared witness to see the young Solid Script Wizard sound asleep on her patient's leg.

Mira held a hand to her mouth as she chuckled to herself. She then walked over and gently shook the girl's shoulder.

"Levy. Levy. Time to get up."

The short girl mumbled, sleepily, before looking up at Fairy Tail's Centerfold Beauty. "Mira? What are you doing in my apartment?"

Again, Mirajane chuckled. "Take a look around you."

Levy yawned and blinked before doing what the white-haired girl asked. It took several seconds before she looked down and noticed the red indentation of where her cheek had been on the other teen's leg.

Her face reddened and she began waving her arms in a hysterical fashion.

"Ah! Wh-What was I...? It's not what you think, Mira, honestly!"

However both of them soon stopped their comedic act as the bed ridden boy had started to softly glow and then he then let out a howl in pain as he thrashed around violently.

"What's wrong with him?!" Levy cried out in shock.

"Never mind that! Help me hold him down so he doesn't hurt himself!" Mira shouted.

Both girls grabbed his flailing arms and shoulders and tried to hold him down as he continued to squirm and cry out in agony. However their hold was slipping as he proved to be a strong person and Levy was soon sent stumbling back but was caught by Macao as Wakaba soon took her place holding the boy down.

"What's up with this kid?!" Wakaba shouted, his pipe leaving his mouth. Macao soon left Levy and went to the end of the bed and tried to hold down the convulsing teen's legs.

"Something's not right, that's for damn sure!" He replied back.

Suddenly the boy stopped and chest rose and fell slowly. At his neck was two fingers on the boy's pressure point, the fingers revealed that they belonged to the Master.

The short old man sighed in relief before addressing everyone.

"I think the worst is behind him. Thank you, everyone, for your help." He turned to Levy and Mirajane, "Can you tell me what happened?"

Mirajane told how she came in to open up the guild when she noticed the door to the Infirmary was open and she found Levy asleep and the two of them then had to quickly hold him down and Macao and Wakaba had came and assisted.

The two Fairy Tail veterans nodded.

Makarov looked to the, now, resting teen before looking at Levy.

"You fell asleep?"

Levy, ashamedly, looked down and nodded. She then frowned as she looked back up.

"I think I was put to sleep by Mystogan, though, as I heard footsteps behind me as I was falling asleep."

Makarov frowned before looking back at the sleeping blonde, "That's not possible. He's away on a mission in Bosco, which means someone else was here." He then placed his hand above the teen's head and levitated it over the rest of his body before it settled on his chest. Makarov then growled as he furrowed his brow.

"Someone foolish has put a lacrima into this boy..."

Mirajane and Levy gasped while Macao and Wakaba frowned.

"Why would they do that?" Levy asked.

Makarov didn't answer, at first, but he soon sighed, "I'm not entirely certain."

To be continued...

A/N: Not sure when the next chapter will be up but hopefully by the end of next week, just depends if I find work again. That and if the other stories I'm trying to update take too long then, please bare with me.

Stay tuned and leave a comment or two.

Q-n-P