Chapter 4: Split Desires

December 27th, X777

Naruto double-checked his list as he exited a small, family-run grocery store. He held a bag of clacking, pink hard candies under his arm so he could read the list. Wendy had scolded him for forgetting them after their first visit to the store. He could have sworn he'd bought them the first time too.

Either way, He was still "repaying her" for the time he scared her when they first entered the forest. She decided to add on when he hadn't let her heal him after his fight with the man in the forest, or Skully McFacetats as he'd taken to calling him. Not wanting to deal with a crying Wendy, he left to get the candy without much resistance.

He held the sweets at eye level as he inspected them. Was it okay for him to keep getting these things for her? Buying them just to stop her from crying and complaining didn't seem like the best idea. Keep that up for too long and he might get a spoiled brat on his hands. Not to mention how unhealthy they probably were. Naruto stopped walking for a moment.

Hm. Since when did he think about stuff like that? Wasn't he the one on a steady three-meal-a-day ramen-based diet with the option of an extra snack of ramen before he came here?

Although he had started cooking other food, he did it to save money first and just saw health as a secondary benefit. He'd discovered after shopping several times that prepackaged food wasn't cheap here.

Deciding to stop holding up traffic, he shook himself out of his thoughts and continued walking. A large green building caught his eye, just as it had when he first saw it. It had an emblem of a green sword on a sign above the door, and from what he could tell, it appeared to be a mage guild.

At least, he guessed so based on the unusual number of out of the ordinary going into the building. Mages seemed like they had a certain… quality to them. Ninjas weren't all that different in that regard either.

The rest of the town had similar architecture to the guild. Stone buildings painted in a variety of pastel colors lined both sides of the cobblestone street. The scent of charred wood and plumes of smoke rising from the chimneys signified the coming of the cold of winter. The city was close enough to the ocean that one could smell salt in the air if the wind blew just right. At this time of year, though, the ocean breeze only added to the winter chill. Despite the cold, Naruto found it to be one of the most beautiful cities he had seen to since coming to Earthland.

He considered going into the guildhall, interested to see what one was like. He glanced down at the candies. On second thought, he should get back to Wendy.

Continuing down the road, he noticed a hunched, frail-looking older woman struggling to make her way through the crowd. If he didn't help her, he knew his conscience would hate him for it later. He allowed himself to sigh as he moved to her. He just wanted to get back to his hotel.

"Do you need any help, mam?" he said as he stopped next to her. She turned to look at him, and a chill ran up his spine. Did he just imagine that? He could have sworn she looked like some type of predator with its prey in sight.

"Oh my, what a kind young man. I would just love some help." Her voice was airy and seemed to shake with almost every syllable. She gave him a soft smile, her wrinkles curling with it. He had trouble telling just how old she was. Once old people reached a certain age, they all blurred together for him. She wore ornate, expensive looking robes and had her long, white hair tied back in a ponytail.

Naruto held out his arm for her to grab onto, which she accepted. Not two steps into walking, he felt her go slack and begin to collapse to the ground. "Woah! Are you alright, mam?" He'd cushioned her fall as best he could with one arm.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe how far I've had to walk today; I don't think I can take another step."

"Don't worry about it," he said with a smile. "I don't mind carrying you if it doesn't bother you, mam."

Her face seemed to light up. "Oh, would you be such a dear? And please, call me Elli. All this "mam" business makes me feel my age that much more. I feel three years older already."

Naruto's eyebrows crinkled. It was him calling her mam that made her feel old? Not the being unable to walk more than two steps without falling thing? He'd taken extra care not to call her granny too. Would she have just turned to dust if he'd called her that? "Uh, alright, I guess."

Naruto knelt in front of her, planning to give her a piggyback ride. He turned his head so he could see her out of the corner of his eye. Wait, was that a frown? She got onto his back and draped her arms around his neck. As he began standing up, he felt her slump backward. He only managed to break her fall due to his strength and honed reflexes.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe how many things I've carried today; I don't think I could lift my arms again." She made a show of her weakness, rolling back and forth like a turtle to get off her back.

A younger Naruto would have smacked his face in frustration. What the hell did he get himself into? "Are you hurt at all, mam?"

"Four years older," she said as she somehow pancaked herself even flatter onto the ground.

"…Elli." A groan somehow failed to escape him.

She seemed to reinflate as soon as he said it. "Oh, I truly can't move another muscle." However, she still had enough energy to give him a glance over her shoulder. "If it isn't too much of a bother, would you be able to carry me in your arms."

Naruto didn't know what was going on, but he did know that he didn't like it. Against his better judgment, he lifted her bridal style. If she pulled something weird, the hag was going back on the ground.

"Alright, where do I need to take you?"

"Oh, the Gramlush guildhall, dear."

Naruto swiveled his head to look at the large building with the green sword logo, a grueling ten meters away. "That building literally across the street?"

Her warm smile didn't soothe his annoyance.

Why couldn't this entire thing just be over? Without saying anything else, he strode across the street. As he neared the entrance of the guildhall, an older, mustached man with greying hair opened the door. The man ran a hand through his hair and breathed a tense sigh. "Mother, how many times do I need to ask you to stop doing this?"

Just then, Naruto felt a graze across his chest. Did this old lady just feel him up? Out of instinct, he dropped her like a sack of rocks. As it turned out, she made for quite an agile sack of rocks. She landed feet first and began cackling. "What the hell!" he said. He knew she had been faking her weakness, but this grandma just landed like a cat.

The old man looked ready to die. "I'm so sorry. I've tried to make her stop, but she just won't listen."

"I'll stop when you're the guild master, Leify. Let me have some fun every now and then. With how borin' those damned meetings are I deserve a bit of a pick-me-up." She smirked at her son; voice now as coarse as sandpaper. She could sure put on an act.

"At least make your 'pick-me-up' less literal. At this rate, I'll die of embarrassment before you ever retire."

Elli laughed at her son's discomfort. "If I'm goin' to get old, I might as well get some use out of it."

Naruto stared at the mother and son, speechless. She was the guild master!? Elli's attention returned to him. "Thanks so much for the help, sweetie; brought me right back to my glory days," she said with a wink.

Naruto couldn't help but blush. Dealing with women, even older ones, wasn't one of his strong suits. In the back of his mind, he praised whatever deity was out there that he hadn't called her granny or old lady. He had enough experience with strong, old women to know it would have endangered his life.

Elli's son glared at her before turning to him. "I really am sorry about this. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to make it up to you."

"Great idea, Leif. How about we invite him in for some food; treat him to some Gramlush hospitality." She gave Naruto a very unwanted smile.

Leif crossed his arms. "I'd be surprised if he'd want any of our hospitality after what you pulled."

She swatted her hand. "Whatever floats your boats. I'm goin' to get changed out of these dress robes. I swear; these things are hotter than a dragon's ass," she said as she entered the guildhall.

Leif sighed and covered his face. This was a man whose will had been broken long ago.

Naruto gave him a look of pity. It would get even more awkward if he let the conversation fall into silence. "So, she, uh, does this a lot?"

Leif groaned. "She says she likes the attention of 'handsome young men'. For whatever reason, she thinks it's okay to play little pranks like this to get it. I swear, she never used to be this way before dad passed. It's like it flipped a switch or something." He said the last part more to himself than to Naruto.

Leif shook his head and frowned. "I'm sorry, but I never did get your name. I'm Leif Grahn, and that was my mother, Elli." He held out his hand for Naruto to shake.

Naruto took the man's hand and mustered a smile. "Naruto Uzumaki. You don't need to worry about all that stuff too much. It wasn't like she hurt me or anything so I'm really not too mad about it."

"Still, I would feel bad just letting you go. Surely, she must have at least inconvenienced you some. Despite what I said earlier, if you wouldn't mind then I could at least give you dinner. We have a chef to help feed all of our mages."

Free food, more so some made by an actual chef, wasn't something he wanted to turn down. When the best thing you can say about your cooking is that at least it doesn't cause food poisoning, you take a good meal when you can get one. He did need to get back to Wendy though. He also shivered at the thought of meeting with Elli again. "Thanks, but I need to get back to someone. Don't worry about it, really."

"Oh, I wouldn't mind if you came back with them. What's one more person?"

Sheesh, this guy was persistent. Well, free food was free food. "Alright, I guess I'll come back in a couple of hours."

Wendy greeted him as soon as he opened the door. He had taken out the candy before coming inside, knowing she would ask him for it. She grabbed the bag and offered him an excited thank you before running to the dining table.

She gritted her teeth as she tried to tear into the bag, but she couldn't get it open. Her eyes darted to him for a second before she puffed out her cheeks and tried again. Naruto did his best to hold back a smile at her frustration. After a minute of several attempts, she held the bag out to Naruto while frowning.

Naruto grabbed the bag from her but decided against opening it. Maybe he should start controlling when she ate sweets like this. She could wait until after dinner. "I'm gonna keep these until after we eat. We got invited to dinner tonight, so it would be bad if you got full off of candy."

She pouted at being told to wait but ended up giving in to her curiosity. "Where is it?"

"At the local guild called Gramlush. I… helped out the guild master, so they invited us for dinner," he said. He noticed she had started smiling. "You excited?"

"Yeah, mages are cool."

Naruto chuckled. "And you get to have something aside from my crappy cooking."

"But I like your food; I think it tastes good."

"Even if you like my food this stuff should be a lot better. I'm definitely not a chef." The only reason she would like his food was that it was all she knew. Must have been like a hostage starting to like their captor or something.

Wendy looked like she disagreed but moved on instead. "Are they nice?"

"Something like that." Well, they weren't mean at least.

Wendy tilted her head at him. He'd learned that letting her ask too many questions could be dangerous. She always knew the things he didn't want to talk about. "C'mon, let's get cleaned up for dinner. I can smell you from over here since someone decided to fall asleep before taking a bath last night."

"I don't stink!"

He put a hand over his nose and marched toward her. "Sure, you don't." He hoisted her over his shoulder with his free arm as she flailed in protest. He feigned gagging as they made their way to the bathroom, causing Wendy to break into a fit of giggles.

A little over an hour later, they stood outside the guildhall. Naruto hesitated before opening the door. He knew what, or rather who would be on the other side of it. "W-what's wrong?" Wendy said from his side, a shiver causing her to stutter.

She had insisted on wearing a new green and blue dress because she said it would be prettier than pants. Naruto had told her she would be cold, but she still insisted. Eh, it wouldn't hurt to have her learn some things the hard way. Better now than when the cold became biting.

"Nothing, let's go on in."

Naruto felt a welcome warmth wash over him as he opened the door. The guild seemed to lack a chimney or fireplace, so they must have produced heat some other way. Maybe they used lacrima since they had easy access to magic as a guild.

The smell of food struck him next. A mixture of delicious scents that he couldn't quite place assaulted him all at once. He swallowed to make sure he didn't start drooling.

The inside of the guild looked much like a pub or restaurant. Fifteen or so tables of varying sizes with two to eight chairs around them stood throughout the large entrance room. A little over half of the tables had people at them, with most of them eating or drinking, though some just talked. There seemed to be thirty or so people, which filled the hall with noise and activity without making it feel crowded.

Naruto glanced at Wendy out of the corner of his eye. She seemed pleased to be warm again if her smile was anything to go by. Not too long ago she would have been clutching to the back of his shirt out of anxiety with this many people around. Now she could stand on her own and introduce herself to almost anyone.

A smile tugged at his lips. His attempts to get her comfortable around other people seemed effective. He would need to tell her how proud he was after they got back to their hotel. Though Grandeeney must have done the best she could, having no other humans around to interact with hadn't helped her ability to socialize.

They didn't need to wait long for someone to notice them. A smiling waitress in her mid-30s approached them and said, "Hi there. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Leif invited us over for dinner earlier today. Is he still around?"

"Of course, I'll be right back." She entered a door to the left of the large bar, which covered almost half of the wall opposite to the door. Thirty seconds later, a smiling Leif came through the door with the waitress in tow.

"Nice to see you again, Naruto." He extended his hand to Naruto as he approached. Naruto shook his hand and returned his smile. Leif then turned his attention to Wendy. "And you must be the other guest that Naruto mentioned."

Wendy extended her hand as well. "I'm Wendy Marvell. Thank you for inviting us to eat."

Leif shook her hand, though with a laxer grip. "It's great to meet you, Wendy. My name is Leif Grahn. There's no need to thank me; the reason I invited you is to repay Naruto after all."

Leif turned back to Naruto. "Elli wants to have dinner in the private dining room in the back. I hope you don't mind." He offered Naruto a sympathetic smile, but he got the idea. What Elli says, goes. Out of respect for her as the guild leader or out of fear as her son, he wasn't sure. Might have been a bit of both.

Naruto forced a smile. "Of course, I'm good with anything."

They followed Leif back through the door he had appeared from, which led to a hallway with five oak doors. Opening the second door on the right revealed a well-lit, ornate dining room. A chandelier hung over a carved and polished eight-person dining table, oriented to have its head face the door.

At the head of the table was—of course—Elli, whose smile strengthened Naruto's feeling of dread.

Two paintings adorned opposite walls, one on each side of the table. One depicted a dragon perched on top of a pile of gold, the other a man hoisting a sword into the air, one foot on a tree trunk. Naruto knew next to nothing about art, but he could tell that they weren't run of the mill paintings.

Elli grabbed his attention. "So good to see you again. Thanks again for earlier; I still appreciate it so very much."

She'd taken to putting on her sweet old lady act again. Well, at least he knew better this time. Naruto struggled out a smile. "Really, don't mention it. Oh yeah, my name's Naruto Uzumaki. Don't think I ever told you before."

"Don't worry, Leif told me after you left. And this must be our other guest then?" She leaned forward in her chair as she turned to Wendy.

"My name is Wendy Marvell. It's good to meet you, mam." She gave a short bow as she introduced herself. Wendy still had a knack for being polite and formal when she felt like it. She sure didn't act that way around him anymore though. Not that he would want her to.

Elli began cackling, which had become an unsettling sound for Naruto. It made her feel even more like a witch. After finishing, she said, "My, no need to be so formal, dearie. Just call me Elli. It's a lot more comfortable that way." She motioned to the seats on her right. "Why don't you take a seat? The food shouldn't be too long in gettin' here."

Naruto sat on Elli's right, Wendy next to him, and Leif to Elli's left.

Elli faced Naruto after they finished taking their seats. "I would've liked for my grandsons to join us, but unfortunately they're off on a job. My eldest grandson is right around your age actually."

And that didn't make her feel weird at all when feeling him up? "Too bad, I guess. Is Leif your only kid?"

"Well, I suppose it's more like he was the only one I had the time to have. I was away from home more often than not during my youth. By the time I finally settled down for good it was too late to have another." Her eyes sharpened. "And what's your story then? It's unusual to see a pair of youngsters like yourselves travellin' around."

He supposed it wouldn't hurt to talk about their situation some. An old guild master may know something about dragons as well. "I found Wendy half a year ago after her mom went missing. I promised her I'd help find her and we've been together ever since."

"And what's your story then?" Her gaze pierced through him like an arrow.

"I just travel around and make what money I can, y'know? Usually end up doing bounties."

"Bounties? My, that must be quite dangerous work."

He would have responded, but Wendy beat him to it. "Naruto's really strong though. He's a really cool mage."

Elli's face lit up and Leif shifted in his seat. Wait, was this turning into some sort of recruitment dinner? Elli's face stretched into a smile. "A mage? It's quite unusual for there to be a wanderin' mage these days. One usually joins a guild pretty quickly since they get legal protection and access to higher payin' jobs, you know."

"Oh, you don't say." He felt that itch in the back of his mind again.

She must have been able to tell he was hesitant. Her face had fallen back to a neutral state. Then, her eyes and smile widened again. "Some of our members have some kids right around young Wendy's age. Actually, their parents even bring them to the guild so they can play together during the day."

She turned to Wendy with a warm smile. "I imagine you don't get to play very much on the road, do you dear? Would you like to go see the playroom after dinner? I'm sure Leif wouldn't mind takin' you."

Wendy fidgeted at the idea. She may have become used to talking to adults, but she rarely interacted with other kids. She'd never met another person without him there, either. On one hand, he wanted Wendy to have fun and be able to act her age, but on the other, it would be playing into whatever the old witch had planned.

It wasn't a hard choice. "Go on, Wendy. You'll have fun; I'm sure of it," he said as he put a hand on her shoulder.

She stared into his eyes and nodded. "Okay, I'll go."

Though Elli's smile was warm, her eyes were sharp. She wanted something.

As if on cue, the food arrived. The same waitress that had greeted them brought in grilled chicken with a gravy-like sauce and a variety of vegetables. It blew away anything he could make, simple as it was, so he made sure to savor every bite. Wendy seemed to enjoy the food as well based on her smile and how fast she ate.

For dessert, they had chocolate cake, which Naruto decided to nibble on to waste time. His chest tightened at the thought of his upcoming conversation with Elli.

After they had finished, Elli glanced at her son, who stood up from the table. "How about we go see the playroom, Wendy."

With a nod, Wendy climbed out of her seat and left with a wave behind her.

They sat in silence for several seconds, waiting for the other to start a conversation. Elli decided to break the silence. "That Wendy sure is a sweetheart. Makes me wish Leif had been less of a little brat back in the day."

She must have crushed his will at some point considering how he was now. Since lecturing her about tricking him, he seemed terrified at the idea of even speaking without being spoken to. Now that he thought about it, maybe his lecturing was just him following some plan of hers too.

"I just got kinda lucky. She was already like that when I met her."

"Wish they all came that way. Now instead of being a brat he just nags me when I do somethin' he doesn't like."

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I think she might've just skipped being a brat and went straight into the nagging."

Elli gave a shrill laugh. "A precocious one, eh? Guess that might cause some problems too."

Naruto started to get impatient. How long was she going to keep making small talk and beating around the bush? Then, her eyes narrowed. Could she read his mind or something? "I suppose you might have realized I didn't have those two leave for no reason," she said.

"I kinda had a feeling."

"You see, I had a recent opening in my boy toy position, and I was hopin'—"

Naruto scrambled out of his seat and made for the door, but he felt as if something grabbed him by the scruff and threw him back into his chair. He tried to stand again but found he couldn't, at least not with anywhere near a normal amount of effort.

"Oh, calm down; I was just kiddin'. You youngins are too easy to tease anymore. Almost takes some of the fun out of it."

"I'm not taking any chances after what you pulled earlier."

"Please, it was all in good fun. Gotta find time to have some between all the work I do." Her face hardened, and her eyes narrowed. "But I'll be frank with you; our guild needs stronger mages. We've fallen far behind most of the other major guilds in Fiore when it comes to strength. Though we have a good number of mages, we've only got two active A-rank mages. Only one of them is anywhere close to becoming S-rank too."

"And what's that got to do with me?"

"Don't play dumb with me, boy. I can tell you're powerful. I've seen plenty who just think they're strong and only a handful that truly are. The truly strong have a certain air about them, and you reek of it. I could tell as soon as you first came up to me."

"If you're trying to recruit me or something you sure could've done a better job of it. Don't think I've ever heard of the 'sexual harassment' recruiting method." He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"Oh, come off it. I'll apologize if that's what gets you to stop avoidin' the conversation." She leveled her eyes at him, and he felt as if the pull of gravity was increasing by the second. It must have something to do with her magic. Was she even doing this on purpose, or did it just naturally happen when she got angry?

"Just because I'm a mage doesn't mean I want to join a guild. I've been doing fine on my own so far. Besides, I've got a promise to keep."

"You mean to find the girl's mom, right? Don't see how joinin' the guild would stop you from doin' that. It's a dangerous world out there anyway; it'd be safer if you could leave her somewhere people could look after her."

Naruto's chest tensed. She was right. So why didn't he want to agree with her? "I can make solid clones of myself with my magic. I can look after her on my own that way."

Elli leaned forward, her hands pressing into the wooden table. "So then why don't you sound too sure. To me, it seems like you're tryin' to come up with any excuse you can to turn me down."

Naruto remained silent at her words. He didn't have a good enough response to them.

After several seconds, Elli leaned back into her chair and heaved a heavy sigh. "Sorry, maybe I'm pressurin' you too much, kid. You can say no if you really want. I just want to make sure you're at least considerin' everything."

Naruto nodded at her. He could at least give her a proper reason. All his thoughts and worries were starting to drive him crazy anyway. It might help to talk about them a bit. He paused for a few more seconds to gather his thoughts.

"Wendy already had her mom leave her all alone. If I just drop her off at a guild and leave for who knows how long…" He trailed off before finishing. He knew what it was like to be all alone. To have people leave him. It wasn't something he wanted Wendy to experience, at least not again.

Elli's face softened for the first time since he had met her. She stared off into the distance in thought. "I mentioned how Leif was the only kid I ended up having time for, right?"

Naruto nodded.

She continued. "If I'm bein' totally honest, I don't think I had time for any kids. Not really. The entire time I was pregnant with him, all I could think about was going back out on adventures again. As soon as I had him eatin' solid food, I started takin' jobs as fast as I could.

"My husband was a mage too. He decided to stay here as a fisherman after Leif was born though. I could have done the same I suppose, so I could be close to Leif. I ended up only seein' him a couple of times a month, maybe less. If I could do it again… I guess I still wouldn't know what the hell to do. All I know is when I see how Leif is with his kids, he's got somethin' we never had. Ended up hurting the both of us in the end."

She smiled at him, but it failed to reach her eyes. "Guess what I'm tryin' to say is I get how you're feeling, kid."

"Wendy's not my daughter though; It's not the same with us," Naruto said.

"You're shittin' me kid. I don't know everything about your situation, but I can sure as hell tell you aren't just any ol' babysitter."

That was the heart of the issue. Just who was Wendy to him, or even more, what was he to her? He didn't have a clue. He still wasn't sure what a family was; what made one. Grandeeny and Wendy weren't related, but that didn't make them any less of a mother and daughter. Maybe he could have had something like that with Jiraiya if he had shown up earlier. He shuddered at the idea of ending up like the super pervert, though.

All he knew is that he didn't want to leave Wendy's side. Maybe it shouldn't matter what he wanted though.

Naruto cleared his throat, failing to remove the knot that had formed. "I don't really know what we are; I guess that's why I'm kind of afraid, y'know. And I'm not used to that, I guess." He forced a chuckle to push down the pain in his chest.

"If… when we find Wendy's mom, I don't know what's gonna happen. I don't want to never see her again, but maybe that's what happens. I want to be with her until then, though."

"So, you're afraid if you leave her, then you'll have even less time with her before then," Elli said.

"It's not just that though. I mean, I've thought about the danger too. She's come a lot closer to getting hurt than I can ever let happen again. If I leave her though, I don't know if she'll get it. I can't believe how smart she is sometimes, but she's only ever known her mom and me. Even if I left clones or something, she can tell the difference. She knows it's not the same." Naruto glanced at the door Wendy had left through.

He paused another moment to get his head in order. Wendy's safety was more important than anything else. Or was it? The neglect in his youth still hurt more now than any physical wound he'd gotten. Even so, he'd need to decide on what to do no matter how unsure he was.

"I think I'd need to let her get used to it. If we decide to stay, I mean. I want her to be safe, though. I'd hate myself if she ever really got hurt because of me." His voice wavered as he spoke. He wasn't used to doubting himself so much.

"You're an orphan, aren't you," Elli said, and he turned back to her. Her eyes glinted with a knowing light; She wasn't asking a question.

Naruto nodded to confirm her thoughts. Elli said, "My husband was too. I wasn't." She didn't say anything else on the subject, only leaned back in her chair and sighed. After a pause, she continued, "I can't tell you what's right or wrong here, Naruto. Not like I've got the faintest clue. I think you're a good kid though, and you care about that girl no matter what you are to each other.

"Maybe try talkin' with her about it all though. She's a smart little thing like you said. She deserves a say too." She looked at a clock on the wall. "We should get a move on though; It's already gettin' toward eight."

They both stood and headed toward the door. "Thanks a lot for talking about all this. I think I kinda needed that." He paused for a short second before smirking. Maybe he could lighten the mood before going back to see Wendy. "Y'know, you're pretty easy to talk to for a pervy old grand—"

He was cut off as a loud smack reverberated through the room. He might need to avoid sitting for a while. She smiled back at him, "Don't push your luck, kid."

Well, he could give her that one.

Two hours later, Naruto found himself sitting next to Wendy as she laid in bed. They'd asked about Wendy's mom but had come up empty yet again. Elli and Leif had looked truly saddened that they couldn't help more.

Wendy sorted through a stack of books, trying to find one for him to read. He'd decided to start reading for her as soon as he felt comfortable with the language of Fiore. It only seemed right, since he had to turn her down so often early on.

She smiled and held one out so he could see it—she'd picked one of the new ones. Something about a mage helping some animals in a forest. He smiled back and opened the book to its first page but paused. "Hey, I wanted to talk about something for a bit, Wendy."

She nodded and waited for him to continue. "How'd you like the guild today? You have fun with the other kids?"

She wriggled further into the bed and nodded several times. "I had a lot of fun. I was scared, but Frey and Evie were really nice. We played with toys and Mr. Leif a bunch."

Warmth spread through his chest, but it disappeared an instant later. "That's good; I'm happy you had fun," he said. He distracted himself by glancing at the book in his hands. He wished he could be better with words. It'd be better if he didn't need to be so direct. "What would you think about staying here, Wendy? You could play there every day, y'know."

He heard the bed covers shift, and saw that Wendy had pulled them up to cover her mouth. She moved them to talk, showing him the frown on her face. "I like playing, but I like going around with Naruto more."

"Weren't you scared though? When the mean guys took you or when the scary guy attacked us in the woods?" He caressed her hair, brushing strands out of her face. "If you stayed here then no bad guys could get you."

"But we need to find mommy," she said, tears welling in her eyes.

"I'll still look for Grandeeny, Wendy. I'll come back to visit and—"

"No!" Wendy said. The tears in her eyes began overflowing. "I don't want Naruto to leave."

Naruto felt his heart sinking. "You know, when those bad guys took you while I was gone, I don't know if I've ever felt more scared. And when that big scary guy showed up in the woods, it was almost the same. If you got hurt, Wendy… I don't know what I'd do. I want to make sure you're safe." He moved fully onto the bed and wrapped Wendy in a hug. She continued to cry into his chest as he cradled her head.

Soon, she looked up, red eyes gleaming in the dim light of the bedside lamp. "Naruto gets hurt though. I can't heal you if you go alone. I'll be scared."

He wiped her dampened cheeks with his sleeve, but new tears replaced the old as soon as they were gone. He wouldn't be able to convince her, not now at least. Maybe if they stayed in town for a while. Someone at the guild could babysit her while he went out for some bounties. She could make some friends with the other kids and act her age. He could try again after that. She'd need more than him at some point, after all.

But he wouldn't leave her here if she didn't agree. He couldn't do that to her, not about something like this.

He held her until she cried herself to sleep; the goodnight story left forgotten on the nightstand.

"What the hell is this?" Naruto said, his mouth left agape like a fish out of water. Wendy stood beside him, doing her best to bury herself into him for warmth.

The charred husk of the Gramlush guildhall stood before him. Its once green stone skeleton was now blackened with ash and soot.

He'd decided to return to the guildhall after lunch to meet with Elli and Leif. He wanted to talk about Wendy staying while he was away on bounty jobs. Wendy—who opted for pants and a long-sleeved shirt instead of a dress—had even wanted to so she could play again.

A grunt at his side captured his attention. Elli had appeared beside them, her face impassive as she digested the sight of her destroyed guildhall.

She craned her neck as she turned to face him. "Naruto. Wendy," she nodded to each of them. She faced the guildhall again. "Well, Leif did always tell me I turned the heat up too high."

Naruto humored her with a smirk, though it died to make way for a frown soon after. "What happened? Is everyone okay?"

Elli's eyes remained glued to the remains of Gramlush. "No one got hurt. Wouldn't be able to joke about it otherwise. We used lacrima powered heaters for the guild. Cheaper than wood for mages since we can charge 'em ourselves. We think they must've malfunctioned."

Naruto considered saying something about the guild but held his tongue in the end. He'd seen his home destroyed before. There wasn't anything he could say to make it better. "I'm glad everyone's okay," he said. That no one got hurt was the only good news.

Elli nodded. "We can rebuild a building and buy new things, after all. Can't do that with people," she said, turning toward them once again.

Her eyes darted to Wendy. "About what we were talkin' about last night. I'm afraid we won't be takin' any new members for a while now."

The longer he waited, the harder it would be to part with Wendy. It's why he wanted to do it now when he could at least muster the granule of resolve he could. "Elli, I can help, y'know. I wouldn't mind at all." His grip tightened around Wendy's hand.

"I can't have you puttin' in all that work when you aren't a member. Besides, the stamp got burnt up in there too. Those things need to be made in the capital. Cost you half an arm too." She sighed, and her face drooped. It deepened her wrinkles, making her look as old as when they first met. She wasn't pretending this time, though.

"Like I said, we don't have many hotshots around here. We aren't rakin' in big money. I don't even know when we can start rebuildin'." She straightened her back and raised her head. "It wouldn't do my conscience any good to have you do that. Especially with no pay."

His grip on Wendy slackened and a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding escaped him. Elli smirked and said, "Maybe it's better this way, kid. For now, at least. We don't know what's gonna happen, but I'd hate to see you make the mistakes I made. You're already doin' a better job than I ever did."

Naruto's eyes drifted to Wendy, and he nodded. His doubts would still eat at him, but he knew—or maybe he just hoped—they'd both be happier this way. For now, at least.

He faced Elli. "I guess we'd better get going. You've gotta be busy trying to figure everything out."

Elli inclined her head, just enough to show she agreed. "It was good meetin' you two, if you get outta here before we see each other again, I mean," she said. "Stop by if you're ever in the neighborhood again. I'll treat you two to dinner for old time's sake. Who knows, maybe we'll even have this place in workin' order."

"'Course we will. Right, Wendy?" He shook her shoulder.

Wendy nodded and left his side. His eyes bulged as she left on her own to hug Elli. "Thank you for the food, Ms. Elli. I hope your guild gets better."

A smile tugged its way onto Elli's face. "Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine, dearie. Just you see when you make it back." She patted Wendy's back and then turned her around by the shoulders. "Now, you make sure to take care of that Naruto. He seems the type to get into all kinds of trouble. I don't think he'd know what to do without ya, between you and me."

Wendy's eyebrows curled as she smiled. "I know. I'll make sure to heal him."

Elli snickered as Wendy pranced back to him. Naruto couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle. He grabbed Wendy's hand once she made it back to him, knowing she'd get cold otherwise.

Naruto gave Elli a reserved smile. She'd grown on him, despite her poor first impression. "Thanks for everything, again. Tell Leif we said bye in case we don't see him." He tugged on Wendy's hand as they moved past her.

"Oh, Naruto," Elli said. He turned to face her and was met with the grin of a devil. "That boy toy position's still open if you change your mind."

His head snapped forward to hide his blush as he bolted down the street, leaving Wendy stumbling as she tried to keep up.

Well, she didn't change overnight, even if his opinion did.

Omake: Too Many Questions

Naruto and Wendy sprawled out on the hotel room couch, both deciding to read after dinner. Naruto had discovered reading wasn't all that bad while he was learning the written language of Fiore. He'd never been exposed to anything other than textbooks or the pervy sage's porn, so he understood why.

Wendy soon flipped her book around, showing him a word. "What's 'antagonize' mean?"

Thank god he knew this one. She'd asked him several times before when he didn't know a word, and his pride hurt a little each time. He needed to find a dictionary.

"It means you're trying to make someone mad, or something's making you mad, at least."

She nodded and returned to reading, though only for a second.

"Where does the wind come from?" She said.

"I don't know; it's just there I guess." He knew nothing about science.

"Why's the sun so hot?"

Great, she was starting one of her question sprees.

"I'm not sure, Wendy." Please stop, Wendy, he knew nothing about science. Ask about anything other than science.

She frowned and grumbled but tilted her head in thought one more time. She decided to grant his silent wish; the question had nothing to do with science.

"What's a boy toy? Do I want one?"

Chapter Notes: Long time no see. Got a bunch of dialogue for y'all this time. It was important for the development of Naruto and Wendy's relationship though, as well as their future direction.

Gramlush is a canon guild in Fairy Tail, though almost no information exists on it. I decided to have most of it be allusions to Norse mythology. The paintings are allusions to Fafnir and Sigurd. Elli is another figure in Norse mythology.

Story Notes: Life sure is something. I'm moving in two days, then getting married a week later. I wish I had more time to write, but time is a precious commodity for a grad student. There's a lot of places I want to take this story too, and I have almost all of it planned out. I just need to get it all down onto the page. I don't have any intentions of starting other stories though, and if I did, they would just be one shots.

I have thought about editing the first three chapters a bit more too, but I'm not all that concerned. They aren't in dire straits, but there are some things I'd like to do a bit better in them. Maybe if I ever find the time. Next chapter involves more fighting and the appearance of another familiar face. Still not a welcome one though.

See you in another year…

Published: 6/13/19