Mamoru Tame Ni, we will protect part 2: Rank-C guildless protection

Tatsu had spent the day thinking about his fight with Kotone, Hanah, and Ranor. He had long ago decided that he ws going to resolve to get more powerful, but was never more inspired than he was now. Both of of the girls had changed his general viewpoint on women and made him reconsider how he approached them. In addition to that, they had caused him to think of ways to improve himself both as a person as a mage. Still, the one who had the most impact on him had been Ranor. More than anything now he just wanted to fight to better himself at this point, but he was so full of self doubt and self confidence at the same time that he could no longer figure out what to do to make the improvements that he had thought about for litterally a day straight. This dilema had caused him to stay up for way too many days in a row.

With weary eyes he walked toward Hosenka Town where he usually got his clothing. It was easily the most relaxing place he could think of, and his clothing had been badly torn with all of his recent activities and he opted to finally do something fun without getting into some sort of random battle with the forced that happened to exist that always seemed to push him into those types of situations... At least that was his original plan. It was ruined as he walked into the town to see it about half as active as it normally was with magic council paladins there with five of them harassing an older man.
"Seriously? Guy's I'm exhausted, couldn't you just leave this guy alone for tonight and I'll proceed with the kicking of your asses tomorrow?" He asked sarcastically, not expecting them to actually take him up on that.
"Move along, this is magic council business, move along." One of them replied. This tweaked a nerve for Tatsuma and he took a step closer, starting to feel slightly more awake.
"No, and the last time I ran into a group of idiot paladins operating with that equally idiotic law I beat the lot of them nearly to death and they were saved by the very guildless mage they were harassing. I am Tatsuma Shinju of Fairy Tail-" Two inch claws of lightning extended from the fingertips of his right hand as he stared daggers at the paladins."And I'm much more deadly than I was back then. " He growled.

The paladin that had spoken to him started to move forward but one of the others grabbed his shoulder.
"Sir I've actually heard of this guy. The last group that got involved with him was taken out and two of them are still in the hospital. I don't think this is worth it." His subordinate warned. At this, the evident superior stopped and stood, eyes looking like he had something he wanted to say, as if he wanted to protest. Tatsuma simply stood there with claws crackling as if he was just waiting for the paladin to make a move.
"Move out! We need to report this back at headquarters." He ordered as they walked off.


After they left, Tatsu simply walked past the old man, heading to the nearest hotel so he could finally crash and plan out what to do next. As he took his first step the claws simply discharged into nothingness and by the time he finally got to the hotel he felt like his brain was about to do the same.
He didn't make inside before the older mage they had been harassing caught up to him,
"Hey! Young man, did you really almost kill five magic council mages?" The guy asked. Tatsu was unsure as to how people hadn't heard about him, but apparently certain cells within the magic council were aware of him.
"It was an accident but yeah, the girl they were harassing actually spoke up and screamed for me to stop. Thanks to that I was able to regain control, but I've been training to keep that from happening... again." Tatsu replied, yawning as he gave his explanation.
"You... You're not one of those dark mages I've been hearing about are you?"
"No actually I'm a Fairy Tail mage with a temper problem... and I'm currently suffering from exhaustion so if you don't mind, I'm going to head to bed."
"Wait, I didn't get to properly thank you! I mean.. I was going to invite you to stay at my house. My daughter and I are both guildless because that is how our family has always been, ever since my great great grandfather. We even fought in the war, but now that's not even good enough."
"Yeah, I was going to storm into the magic council headquarters and demand answers about that but was both advised against it and ran into something of a complication when it comes to the good old magic council." He replied, thinking back to Charlotte. She was definitely a complication because she represented the fact that the Council had members with some form of sanity.
"Well if you're ever in town again after this I would love to have you over, you seem like a generally well meaning young man. And since you're with Fairy Tail I'm sure you're a good person." The man said.
"How do you know, I could be a criminal in disguise." Tatsu responded, yawning at the end of his statement, after which point his lips curved into an innocent grin.
"I'll risk it, I won't keep you any longer though. My name is Issac so you can ask for me if you need. I work at the spa so if you're going to be in town come by and relax." The man said with a smile of his own. With that he turned and walked away, waving back at Tatsu without turning around.


By the time her got tot he room he was dead to the world, he never even made it to the bed, he just passed out hitting the floor resting. It was as if he instinctively knew there was much worse to come, and as if he knew that he was going to suffer.

Lightning Scalpel:

Word count: 1062/1000