A/N: A new story about two guilds!

More notes at the bottom regarding OC submissions!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 1: The Fire Fox and the Ice Bear

July 15th, X793

In western Fiore lay two towns, one might call them twin towns given that they had grown large enough to begin to overlap, with only a south flowing river called Plum Blossom River acting as a border between them. On the eastern side of the river sat Sakura Village, a village constructed completely in an eastern oriental style that offered exquisite goods and foods, as well as hot springs, something that its western neighbor lacked. On the west side of the river was Apricot Town, a proud western styled castle town that offered a wider variety of things to enjoy and purchase, Apricot Town also had a large library, which its neighbor did not have.

While these two towns grew up together, there was a fierce sense of rivalry between them. They competed to see who had the best experience to offer to tourists, who had the happiest citizens, who had the lowest crime rate and eventually to see who had the best Mage Guild.

In Apricot Town, housed in a large and imposing castle, was the guild Ursine Rampart. A proud guild that had a high mission success rate and its guild hall boasted many areas dedicated for training. The Guild Master himself was a very proud man whose philosophy was that magic honed and trained under rules would be the most powerful when unleashed unrestricted. Ursine Rampart's guild mark resembled a roaring bear's head from the side.

However in Sakura Village was the guild Kitsune's Garden. A lax guild that didn't particularly pay the rules much attention and was housed in a large, oriental estate that boasted large oriental gardens. Their Guild Master was young and inexperienced, but she held the philosophy that magic will never reach its true potential if it is held back and restricted by too many rules. Kitsune's Garden's guild mark resembled nine fox tails in a sweeping motion.

These two guilds, like their towns, held a fierce sense of rivalry, and every season the guild masters would meet with the mayors of the two towns to discuss the Seasonal Fighting Festival to see which guild was the most powerful every season. And soon, the Summer Fighting Festival would be upon the town, which was already beginning to brim with excitement as they began to prepare for the summer festival.

July 15th, X793 – Early Afternoon

Boris Heidrich sat down in the small chair across from the rival guild master. Every season, the meeting between the two towns would take place in a large pavilion on the central, largest bridge connecting the two towns, as it was considered to be "neutral grounds" between the two towns.

Boris was a massive man, standing at 6'8" with a large and bulky, muscular build with very broad shoulders and equally massive arms. He was in very good shape for his ripe old age of 63, but his age clearly showed in is pure white hair, which was long, falling past his shoulders with his large, bushy white beard which completely covered his lower face, although his bangs were kept out of his face by a brown, leather headband which partially covered his forehead. His age showed around his gray eyes as well, which were droopy with small bags under them. Boris was lightly dressed due to the summer heat though, as he never did agree with the heat. He was wearing a sleeveless light brown tunic that was black around the shoulder area with white fur rimming the ends of the shoulders where his shoulders were exposed, and to keep the tunic closed he wore a large, brown leather belt that had a gold buckle and a small barrel of ale hanging off of it around his waist. Boris was wearing a pair of black pants, which were tucked into his brown, fur-rimmed boots and he also had a pair of black armbands around his forearms. His blue Ursine Rampart guild mark could be seen on his left shoulder and he had a large, double-headed battle axe sitting on the ground behind him, leaning against the railing of the pavilion.

"Mayor Richard," Boris huffed, looking over at the mayor of Apricot Town, a man in his 50's wearing a dark blue pinstripe suit with a red tie and auburn hair that was cleanly styled with a well-groomed mustache, "They're late."

"Hm… yes," Richard agreed, "I was hoping Kitsune's Garden's new Guild Master would be more punctual unlike their predecessor and Mayor Katsuo, but it would seem I was wrong to hope for such."

Boris let out an agitated huff before he began stroking his beard, "I suppose we should expect them to continue to be late from now on then as usual."

"It would seem so," Mayor Richard sighed as he leaned forward in his seat, placing his elbows on the table in front of him and clasping his hands up in front of his face.

"Wait! Mitsuko-san!" they heard a familiar voice call out, "You're too fast!"

Boris and Richard looked out towards Sakura Village to see Mayor Katsuo chasing after someone. The mayor was in his thirties and had tan skin, unruly black hair and dark eyes, as well as some stubble on his chin. He was wearing a dark gray yukata with a pair of straw sandals.

"I can't be late Katsuo-sama! It's your fault for sleeping in so much!" the woman yelled back, "My predecessor said to absolutely not be late for the first meeting or Boris-san would think I'm a lazy good-for-nothing!"

"The Fire Fox," Boris huffed, "So that's who was chosen to be the new guild master?"

"It would appear so," Richard grunted as Mitsuko and Katsuo came to a stop in front of them on the pavilion, "Miss Mitsuko Akagitsune I presume."

The woman in question was 25, standing at 5'6" with a thin and in-shape build with and average sized chest and a thin waist. Her pale skin contrasted with her thick, black hair, which fell down to her mid-back with her bangs falling down over her right eye while the hair on top of her head was styled so that it resembled two fox ears sitting atop her head. Her slanted eyes were dark blue in color and they had short eyelashes, and her eyebrows were neatly groomed as well. Mitsuko was wearing sleeveless, dark red shirt that had a small black ribbon on the front of it and exposed some of her cleavage and ended just below her chest, revealing her stomach and her red Kitsune's Garden guild mark, which was above her navel to the right slightly. She was also wearing a pair of dark arm sleeves that began at her elbows and ended at her wrists, both ends being lined with black frills. Mitsuko wore a black mini-skirt that had two long, dark red tassels hanging from either side of her from her waist, and under the skirt she wore a pair of dark red leggings that completely covered her legs and were tucked into a pair of black, toeless platform boots, which made her seem to be about 5'8".

"Yes!" Mitsuko gasped in panic in response to hearing her name, standing straight up before blushing from her outburst, her styled fox ears seeming to droop slightly, "Um… I mean… Yes?"

"You're late," Boris said sternly, a horrified expression crossing her face before she turned towards Mayor Katsuo.

"See! He thinks I'm a lazy good-for-nothing all thanks to you now!" she screamed, Katsuo shrinking down slightly as he sat down in his chair, "My predecessor said to absolutely not fail when it comes to one thing and that was to not be late for my first meeting with Boris-san!" she continued, small tears beginning to form in her eyes, "And thanks to you I failed that one thing!" she finished, quickly crouching down with her knees up against her chest, visible lines of depression hanging over her in the air, "Bakatsuo…"

"Um… I'm sorry?" Katsuo mumbled.

"If we may begin," Richard called out after clearing his throat, catching their attention, "We're already behind schedule and we have much to cover. So, Miss Mitsuko, if you would kindly compose yourself and take your seat, we will begin planning the events for the Summer Fighting Festival."

"Oh! Sorry!" Mitsuko apologized as she quickly stood back up as if nothing was wrong before sitting down in her seat across from Boris as they began to plan out the events of the coming festival.

. : + : .

The sun had begun to set by the time the four of them had concluded the planning session, Mitsuko was sitting in her chair with a lifeless look on her face from how dull she though the behind the scenes work for planning the festival was. She had to respect her predecessor for doing this so often, especially since every festival her predecessor helped plan was always a blast, often times in more ways than one given the nature of the Fighting Festival.

"Fire Fox," she heard Boris call out, Mitsuko snapping out of her lifeless state only to notice that Katsuo and Richard had already left.

"Hm? Oh, Boris-san," Mitsuko replied as she sat up, "Did you want something?"

"Only to express my surprise that you were the one chosen to succeed my rival," Boris huffed, "Surely one of the other S-Class mages would have been a better choice than the reckless and mischievous Fire Fox."

"Boris-san," Mitsuko gasped in shock from the harsh words leaving the older man's mouth before a cold and fierce look crossed her face as she stood up, "Boris-san. You might be right. One of the other's may be a better leader than me and they might be better suited, but no one cares for the guild as much as I do and I'm willing try more than anyone else. You'll see. I might be the reckless and mischievous Fire Fox, but my heart is in it and I'm going to surpass every Guild Master of Kitsune's Garden that came before me! Including my predecessor the eighth Guild Master! Cause the most powerful kitsunes have nine tails and I'm the ninth Guild Master!"

"Hmph," Boris huffed as he stood up as well, completely dwarfing Mitsuko in size as he looked down at her, "You might have spirit and heart, but it takes more than that to be a good Guild Master," Boris continued in a stern tone before a small smile crossed his face, "But, I will look forward to the day, should it come, that you surpass your predecessor and the ones who came before. Become a worthy rival for the Ice Bear of the West, Fire Fox of the East!"

Mitsuko stood there in shock for moment. Had he been testing her? Was he checking to see that she had the strength and will to lead a guild? If so, then her predecessor had been right. Even though Boris was a strict man, he was good at heart and was a figure worthy of respect, even though he was supposed to be her rival.

Mitsuko let a smirk cross her face, a proud look in her eyes, "I won't just be a worthy rival, I'll completely surpass you as well old man!" she announced, pointing at the large man with her left hand as she place her right hand on her hip.

"Heh, I'll look forward to the day we can clash as equals!" Boris added, picking up his axe and lifting it into the air, "Until next time, Fire Fox," he said, resting his axe on his shoulder and turning to walk into Apricot Town.

Mitsuko watched Boris walk away until he was surrounded by the crowds of Apricot Town before she turned to face Sakura Village again. The sun had nearly dropped completely beneath the horizon and the nightlife of Sakura Village was always exciting.

"Time to have some fun!" she cheered as she began to return to Sakura Village.

A/N: I have to say that I'm really excited for this story! So I'm happy to get this started now!

Credits:

Boris Heidrich- Dreadburner94

Mayor Richard- Dreadburner94

Mayor Katsuo- Dreadburner94

Mitsuko "Miko" Akagitsune- Dreadburner94

So first I'd like to thank MyDearWatson for helping figure out a lot of things for this story, especially regarding the first story arc of the story after the introductions are all finished.

Now, remember that this story starts on July 15th, X793 and it won't have any links to any of my other stories. It also won't include canon characters very much, as I want the story to really focus on these two guilds.

I will only be accepting TWO Slayers of any kind and Dragon Slayers are limited only to Second Generation Dragon Slayers for canon story reasons. Also, should I receive two Slayers, they'll be split between the two guilds so that each of them has one.

I will be accepting THREE S-Class mages for each guild, for a total of SIX. Also, for Kitsune's Garden, one of the S-Class Mages will be fairly new to the position, having got it when Mitsuko became Guild Master.

I'm not sure how many OC's I'll be accepting, but right now 25 for each guild for a total of 50 sounds reasonable.

I'm also being rather strict with the submissions for this story. After all, if I'm going to put in the effort to write this story and if you're going to expect me to portray your character well, then I expect you to put in the effort to make that as easy as possible for me as it's only fair. So I expect you to follow and completely fill out the OC form thoroughly.

Also, I will only accept characters sent in to me in a PM! So I will NOT ACCEPT any OC submitted through a review! And I will NOT accept OCs that don't follow the OC Form! You must follow and fill out the form!

Now then, you can find the OC Form on my profile as well as a list of positions that have been filled. Such as S-Class and Slayer spots and a count of how many submissions for each guild.

So, please have fun and be creative with your OC submissions! I look forward to seeing them all!

I'll have the next chapter up when I feel like I have enough OCs!

And yes the title of the story was based on "The Tale of Two Cities" (Which I don't own), although I've never actually read it myself.

Please remember to review!

Your host,

Dreadburner94.