359 Mermaid Heel's HQ

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

May, x785.

"Do you have everything you need?" Alfonzo asked as he loaded Wendy's luggage behind the back seat of the Escalade.

Unfortunately, due to the trailer carrying all the necessary materials for the job that Alfonzo had hitched behind the Escalade, he was unable to access the hatch on the back of the vehicle. So, he was forced to move the luggage through the back door.

"Yes." Wendy replied with a nod. Though, she seemed a bit nervous about the trip.

"And what about you, Carla?" Alfonzo asked.

"I do." Carla replied.

"Good." Alfonzo replied with a nod as he closed the trunk.

"Come on, you three." Marin said from the Escalade's front passenger seat with a smile. "We've got a long drive ahead of us. We don't wanna get there too late, do we?"

With that, Alfonzo smiled while Wendy nodded nervously. Meanwhile, Carla looked at Wendy with a concerned gaze. A moment later, with Alfonzo holding the door open, Wendy and Carla climbed into the Escalade's back seat. Then, once the two were seated, Alfonzo closed the door before making his way to the driver's seat.

"Alright everyone, get comfortable." Alfonzo said. "The drive is about eight hours long. So, we should arrive around dinner time. I packed lunch for us, so we won't be stopping until we get there. Well... Other than for bathroom breaks, anyway."

Hearing that, Marin smiled while Wendy blushed slightly. Meanwhile, Carla simply looked away.

"And away we go." Alfonzo said as he pulled away from Wendy's apartment building.

Meanwhile, back at the guild hall, Cana, Ultear, Mirajane, and Sun were seated at their usual table. However, none of their friends were present. And the reasons for that were simple. Elicia left early to do her monthly inspection of the Taylor Shop in Hargeon, Team Natsu, minus Wendy and Carla were on a quest, and the others were upstairs training. In fact, they would also join the training soon. However, since Alfonzo would be leaving today, they asked him to drop them off at the guild hall so they could spend a little more time with him.

"We really didn't think that through." Ultear said with a wry smile. "Stuffing all of us in the Escalade wasn't really the best idea."

"Then, you could have walked." Cana replied with a cheeky smile.

In response, Ultear only rolled her eyes.

"Do you think changing our minds like we did last night was a good idea?" Sun asked.

"I think so." Mirajane replied. "Like Ur said, we never really talked to Alfonzo about the whole situation with Yoruichi. But I'm glad we did."

As Mirajane said, after talking with Ur, Cana, Mirajane, Marin, and Sun waited for Ultear, who they knew would return from her quest yesterday, to get home. Then, they talked to her about their conversation with her mother. After that, the five young women asked to talk to Alfonzo alone, leaving Elicia to work on her clothing designs.

And that conversation led to the girls finally hearing Alfonzo's opinion on the matter. And in no uncertain terms, Alfonzo said that he probably would not be able to trust Yoruichi enough to love her. Hearing that, the girls were dumbfounded. Then, they asked why he left the decision up to them. And he replied with the same reason that Ur gave Cana, Mirajane, Marin and Sun earlier in the day. However, he admitted that he never expected them to try to accept her.

"*Sigh* That just proves that no matter how well you know someone, sometimes it's better to ask them how they feel about something." Ultear said.

"You three should speak for yourselves." Cana said with her chest puffed out proudly. "I never intended to accept her in the first place."

"Yeah, but that wasn't because you knew what Alfonzo was thinking." Ultear shot back. "You were just being more vocal about your dislike for her."

{"Citizens of Magnolia, we ask that you please vacate the streets."} A male voice said over the town's P.A. system. {"The Gildarts Shift will commence in three minutes. I repeat..."}

Though Cana wanted to retort to Ultear's comment, the sound of the announcement rang out before she could. Then, instead of retorting, she stood up and quickly made her way to the elevator.

"We'll talk about that later." Cana said without slowing down. "But we need to get started with today's training."

Then, without waiting for a response, Cana pressed the elevator's call button. And as soon as the doors opened, she stepped inside and pressed the button for her preferred training floor.

Meanwhile, the other girls, after hearing the announcement and seeing Cana's reaction, could not help but smile.

"I wonder what Gildarts will bring back for Cana this time?" Mirajane said with an amused smile.

"Who knows." Ultear replied with a shrug. "But it can't be any weirder than the last one."

"But I thought it was cool." Sun replied. "And the craftsmanship was great."

In response, Ultear and Mirajane could only shake their heads with wry smiles on their faces.

In fact, the reason for this whole series of reactions was because of the last two times Gildarts returned from quests. Both times he brought a gift back for Cana. And while the first was normal, a hip flask with Cana's name engraved on it. The second, a life sized statue of Cana with a mechanism that would pour alcohol, or whatever beverage it was filled with, from the statue's mouth, was too much for Cana to bear.

So, in an attempt to not have to deal with the issue, Cana ran away to lose herself in training before her father arrived.

"Either way, she won't be able to escape forever." Mirajane said with a smile as she stood from her seat to head upstairs, as well.

Smiling in response, both Ultear and Sun also stood up and followed Mirajane to the elevator.

And just as Mirajane said, Gildarts, with a beer mug in the shape of Cana's head was waiting for Cana when her training was over. Needless to say, Cana was not comfortable with this gift, either.

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Mermaid Heel Headquarters.

Several miles outside of the Town of Cedar, one of Fiore's port towns, there was what appears to be a small castle town in the center of a valley. The castle in the center of this small town was constructed of polished white marble with golden accents. And around the castle were a number of buildings, which appeared to be houses of varying sizes. And surrounding all that was a thirty foot tall, white, stone wall.

Though the streams running through this little town and the gardens that decorated its streets and homes were beautiful, the things that stood out the most about this small town in the middle of nowhere were undoubtedly the emblems carved into the surrounding walls and the castle-like building at its center. And to those familiar with the guilds of Fiore's wizarding community, they would easily recognize those emblems as the guild mark of Fiore's only all-female guild, Mermaid Heel.

The interior of the castle-like building in the center of the town, the Mermaid Heel guild hall, was elegantly decorated with a combination of whites, pinks, and golds. And the main hall, where most guild members spent their time when they were not busy looked much like a ballroom with a large stair case opposite the doors that split in either direction, leading to a mezzanine with several tables and chairs in each corner, that could overlook the entire first floor. And just above the guild hall's main entrance was a door that led to the guild master's, Tsunade's office.

"They should be arriving soon, Tsunade." Ritsu, who was sitting in a chair in front of Tsunade's desk with a cup of tea, said in a gentle tone.

"*Sigh* I know." Tsunade said as she signed her name on a document in front of her. "I just hope there are no problems like the one when we went to visit Fairy Tail."

"I doubt there will be." Ritsu replied. "Although Yoruichi can be impulsive at times, she isn't stupid. And I know she would never allow herself to make the same mistake twice."

"I hope so." Tsunade replied.

"On another note, have you prepared our visitor's accommodations yet?" Ritsu asked.

Upon hearing Ritsu's question, Tsunade froze up completely.

"Shit!" Tsunade exclaimed as she stood up from behind her desk. "I completely forgot. Because we stayed in a hotel in Magnolia, I forgot that we don't have any hotels here."

In response, Ritsu shook her head.

"Well, since we don't receive many guests, I suppose I can let this slide." Ritsu replied. "But I hope something like this never happens again."

"Yeah, I'll be more careful next time." Tsunade said impatiently. "But more importantly, what are we going to do about this time?"

"Luckily, I' half-expected something like this." Ritsu said with a smile. "So, I had a house relatively close to the guild hall prepared."

"*Sigh* That's a relief." Tsunade replied, her large breasts bouncing with the exhale. "It would have been rather embarrassing if we didn't have anywhere for them to stay. I mean, I doubt they would want to wait. They travelled a long way, after all."

"Indeed." Ritsu replied. "Though, I would think their trip was much shorter than ours. I doubt they used the train as their means of travel. That young man, Alfonzo did invent the new magic vehicles, after all."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Tsunade replied. "Maybe we should invest in a few of those for the guild. It would make travelling to and from quests much easier, after all."

"Perhaps we could if we weren't constantly paying off your gambling debts." Ritsu said with a gentle smile that somehow put Tsunade under immense pressure.

"*Cough* Anyway, like you said, they should arrive soon." Tsunade said while beads of cold sweat started forming on her forehead. "I think we should head down to greet them at the gates."

Instead of responding immediately, Ritsu made eye contact with Tsunade while continued to smile at her with that gentle, yet menacing, smile of hers, causing Tsunade to fidget nervously. Then, while still maintaining eye contact, she picked up her teacup and brought it to her lips.

"You're right." Ritsu said after finishing the tea in her cup. Then, after setting the cup on the desk, she continued while standing from her seat. "We should go greet our guests."

With that, Ritsu made her way to the door. And once Ritsu had left her office, Tsunade sighed in relief while simultaneously wiping the sweat from her forehead.

Left alone in her office, Tsunade took a few moments to calm her nerves. Then, she picked up a small bottle of sake from the corner of her desk and took a sip before setting it back down.

"*Sigh* She's still just as scary as she was when I was a kid." Tsunade said, her tone sounding rather tired. "At least she doesn't spend as much time at the guild now that she's a member of the Magic Council."

While speaking to herself, Tsunade walked around her desk before hurrying to catch up with Ritsu, who had started descending the stairs by now. And when she eventually caught up, Ritsu had just set foot in the main hall.

"I'll be going to meet our guests with the fourth master." Tsunade announced loudly, drawing the attention of all the ladies present in the guild hall. "They will be here for at least a month. So, I want all of you to be on your best behavior."

Then, Tsunade glared at a pair of young women sitting at the bar.

"And that goes double for you, Yoruichi and Sui-Feng." Tsunade continued in a warning tone.

In response, the two women in question, Yoruichi and Sui-Feng, nodded in understanding. Though, Tsunade was not sure exactly how much they understood. Shaking her head, Tsunade continued out of the guild hall with Ritsu at her side.

Meanwhile, after hearing Tsunade's announcement, the ladies of Mermaid Heel began to stir once Tsunade and Ritsu were no longer present.

"*Sigh* He's really here, huh?" Yoruichi said with her head lowered.

"Lady Yoruichi, why do you continue to put yourself through this?" Sui-Feng asked. "If they can't forgive you, why bother?"

"Bumble Bee..." Yoruichi muttered while glancing at her companion. "It's not so much that I'm hoping to be with him anymore. I'm pretty sure the chances of that are non-existent. Especially after meeting his girls on his birthday. But I would at least like the chance to rebuild the trust I destroyed with my stupid plan."

With her over the top loyalty to Yoruichi, Sui-Feng was incapable of understanding why someone would be unable to trust her. However, she still nodded her head in understanding.

"So, that guy you like is almost here, huh?" A female voice said from behind Yoruichi.

"*Sigh* Now's not the time, Anko." Yoruichi replied without looking back. "I've got a lot on my mind, right now. We can have a few drinks later, okay?"

Despite Yoruichi's attitude, Anko, or rather Anko Mitarashi, a slender, fair-skinned young woman standing around 5'5" tall with pupil-less brown eyes, violet-colored hair styled into a short, spiky, fanned-out ponytail with messy bangs that cover the headband tied around her forehead, which sported the same mark as the metal plate on the belt Might Guy wore on the joint quest, and frame her face wearing a tan trench coat, a mesh body suit that reached from her color to her knees, an orange mini-skirt, a pair of armored grieves, and a pair of sandals, sat down next to her with a grin on her face.

"Come on, Yoruichi, you talked about this guy and his fiancée so much before." Anko said, curious to know what was going on. "But ever since you came back from visiting Fairy Tail, you clam up every time he's mentioned. What's the deal? Did you confess and get shot down?"

"Can't you just let it go, Anko?" Yoruichi asked.

"I've been letting it go for months." Anko said, sounding a bit impatient. "I just wanna know what's going on. Hell, you've been all mopey since then, and I wanna get to the bottom of it."

"*Sigh* You're so damn stubborn, Anko." Yoruichi said in exasperation.

"If you just told me what was going on, I wouldn't bother you so much, you know?" Anko said with a cheeky smile.

Hearing that, Yoruichi glared at Anko, who continued to smile despite the glare. And after seeing that her glare could not deter her, Yoruichi sighed in resignation. However, before she could finally answer Anko's inquiry, the doors to the guild hall were opened, revealing the figures of three women, a man, a young girl, and a cat walking on two legs.