A/N: Hey Guys! I'm back! :)) My apologies for being a few weeks late, I got to Technical Training School about 4 weeks ago, but I didn't have access to my laptop until now, so all my ideas, pre-writes, rough drafts, etc. were not at my disposal. Thankfully my family mailed me my prepackaged boxes and I now can dedicate more of my free time to my stories. So, here is chapter one of the sequel to "Bonds Stemmed from Mourning"… "A New Beginning"!

*Disclaimer* I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters."

xXx

Mira woke up the next morning feeling surprisingly warmer than usual. She was still half asleep so her thoughts were a little hazy.

"Hm? Why am I so warm?" She thought to herself.

As her senses slowly started to wake up as well, she noticed she was lying on something hard yet comforting. The Take-Over mage looked up to see a sleeping Dragon Slayer sprawled out underneath her. She looked around some more and saw that she was at Natsu's house on top of the couch with him.

"I must have fallen asleep without noticing. He did say I could crash here for the night, but I didn't picture it ending up like this."

As Mira carefully got off the young pinkette to go wash her face she stopped for a second to admire the boy who was still asleep. Natsu was sprawled out with his body all over the place. Quite frankly, Mira was surprised he hadn't rolled off of the couch with her. His right arm was above his head hanging off the arm of the couch while his left dangled off the side. He had his right leg hanging up and over the back of the couch while his left was sticking straight down to the opposite end of his head.

"Natsu is so cute when he's sleeping." The silver haired maiden thought silently to herself.

As she went to find Natsu's bathroom to get ready the Fire Dragon Slayer started to wake up. Stretching his arms out and yawning Natsu slowly managed to open his eyes.

"Man that was a good night's sleep." Natsu said aloud to himself.

"Finally awake huh? It's about time."

Natsu looked up to see the Demon of Fairy Tail walking out of the bathroom.

"Well my body got cold all of a sudden. I don't even know what happened. It's like someone took a blanket off of me. I think I might be getting sick, I never get cold."

"Aww that's so cute Natsu, you missed me lying on you that much huh?"

"Wh-what? No! That's not what it's like at all!"

Mira was having fun teasing the young wizard so she kept going to see how far she could take it.

"You're so cute when you get defensive. What's the matter? You don't like having a beautiful girl on top of you? Don't tell me you play for the other team now?"

"Other team…" For some reason, Natsu felt a strange familiarity at the mentioning of a new team from Mira.

"Other team? I don't really have a team other than me and happy. Why? Do you want to be on a team with me Mira?"

"Huh?" Mira was so caught off guard at the response Natsu gave she almost thought she didn't hear him correctly. Sure, the teasing went right over his head, but his interpretation of the remark was so unexpected, she didn't know how to react.

"Yeah? I mean, we did just promise never to leave each other alone, so I guess making a team would be the most logical step."

"Logical? Since when does Natsu think logically?... Since when does he think?"

"Mira? Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine… Do you really want to be on a team with me?"

"Well yeah, why not? You're one of the strongest members in Fairy Tail." said Natsu with his signature grin.

Mira couldn't help but blush at the compliment, as well as at the smile she was receiving.

"…Fine, you better not back out on me. Don't forget to let your flying fur ball of a friend know."

"Deal!" said Natsu, smiling at his soon to be teammate."

"Yeah, whatever." Replied Mira as she turned away and blushed at the fact that the pinkette was so enthusiastic about teaming up with her.

"Speaking of Happy, have you seen him?"

"No not since yesterday when he stormed out on you."

"Oh yeah he probably slept at the guild, he always gets like this over fish. Speaking of which we should probably head over, I'm starving."

"We have plenty of time, why don't we just eat here?" The Demon of Fairy Tail figured that if they were going to form a team, they might as well start getting to know each other better. Besides, she didn't want to head out to the guild just yet. She found it surprisingly relaxing at Natsu's humble abode.

"But I don't have anything prepared, unless you want to eat some fire with me? I make the best fire it's so good!"

"I can't eat flames dummy."

"Oh yeah…well aside from fish and fire, I don't know how to make anything."

"It's fine, I can make breakfast for us."

"Yes! I love your cooking!"

"What are you talking about? I've never cooked for you."

"My bad Mira, I meant when Lisanna would bring food that you had made for our picnics." Natsu quickly thought up an excuse.

"Why do I feel as if she's cooked for me before?"

"Oh, I see. Anyways, if I'm going to cook you need to get as far away from the kitchen as possible." said Mira.

"You don't need any help?"

"Help? You'd just burn everything hahah." teased Mira.

"Hey!"

"Aww don't get so flustered Natsu you'll distract me from cooking if you keep acting cute like that."

Natsu's faced started to turn the same color as his hair.

"Whatever, I'll be waiting in the living room then." He quickly turned around and walked back to the couch before Mira could see his flushed face.

Mira couldn't stop herself from giggling. She loved the reactions she could get out of him with little to no effort.

"Man what is up with me?" the young Dragon Slayer was pondering his actions and feelings. "I know I'm doing all the things a good friend should do, but this feels funny somehow… and what's with so many things feeling familiar?" Natsu looked down at his scarf and remembered the times he spent with his foster father. "Ugh, dad never taught me about feeling like this so I must just be catching a cold or something… Maybe it's because I haven't been going out lately and fighting. Yeah! That's gotta be it. After I eat with Mira and head back to the guild I'll just kick that stripper's ass to feel better. I'm sure there's something I can blame him for." Natsu laughed to himself as he imagined walking into the guild and beating the shit out of Gray."

"Natsu~ Breakfast is ready!" Mira called out for the Dragon Slayer who she thought was being suspiciously quiet.

"Wow! It all looks so good Mira!" said Natsu as he came to see the feast that was prepared for the two of them.

"Does it? I didn't really do much." Mira couldn't help but blush at the compliment because in actuality she really did try her hardest to make it a good meal. "You didn't have much for me to work with so this was actually a lot of work. He better be grateful for it, I don't just cook for anyone." The Demon of Fairy Tail thought to herself.

"Seriously Mira this looks like it could be the best food ever! Thanks! When can I eat?"

"Don't mention it, seriously." The silver haired teen averted her gaze as she tried to hide the light pink tint appearing on her cheeks. "Besides it's when can "WE" eat, unless you don't want me eating with you?"

Natsu looked away from the food to see Mira questioningly glaring at him.

"W-what? Of course not, you just made all of this, why wouldn't I want to eat it with you?"

"Awww you want to eat with me Natsu? Are you sure? That's so sweet of you." teased the female wizard.

"W-well of course, Igneel taught me that it's rude not to eat with whoever prepared the food. After all you did go through all of the trouble to make it for us."

Mira couldn't help but admire the new side of the young Dragon Slayer. It was a side no one had ever seen before. "He may seem like he doesn't know anything that's going on around him, but he really is more thoughtful than I thought." The Take-Over mage silently said to herself.

"So c'mon Mira let's eat!"

Mira looked up and was completely caught off guard to see the pinkette holding a chair for her to sit down in. "W-W-Why are you pulling the chair out for me Natsu?" stammered the sliver haired maiden who was getting flustered at the gesture.

"What? Am I not supposed to? Lisanna told me that whenever I'm having a meal with just me and a girl I'm supposed to do this kind of thing. I don't really understand it, but if it's something she said I should do then it's the least I can do right? I mean, you are her sister so I thought this was something you guys are used to."

Mira couldn't help but stare in complete awe at how mature Natsu was behaving. Sure he didn't understand it completely but that didn't matter to him, he was keeping things he learned from Lisanna alive and she couldn't help but admire that about him.

"Oh, w-well thank you." The Take-Over mage accepted the gesture and took her seat with her heart racing. However, she was so shocked at this side of Natsu that she didn't even notice it. As the pinkette took his seat directly across from her, Mira decided to see if Natsu was feeling any better about the Lisanna incident.

"N-Natsu?"

"Hm?"

"You sure have been handling talking about Lisanna better lately. Is everything better now?"

"Why wouldn't it be? We made a promise yesterday remember? If we aren't going to leave each other feeling alone anymore, then there's nothing to worry about right? Also, I've been thinking that Lisanna wouldn't want us being sad anymore. So as long as we do our best to keep our promise we can live life to the fullest for her if not anything else."

Mira just looked at the boy in amazement. All she could see was the most sincere toothy grin only he had ever given her and it was infectious. She returned the act with the brightest smile she had ever given anyone and she couldn't find anything to argue against what the young wizard had just said.

"Mhm"

"Wow Mira you have a really nice smile."

"Sh-shut up Natsu. Don't say things like that." The silver haired maiden looked away to hide the bright pink tint appearing on her cheeks.

"So can we eat now?"

Mira looked up to see the most excited young wizard she had ever seen and she couldn't help but laugh at how cute he looked waiting in anticipation for permission to eat."

"What's so funny? I'm starving Mira."

"It's nothing." giggled the Take-Over mage. "Just remember that if you tell anyone about this side of me you can kiss more than just my cooking goodbye, got it?"

"Yes mam." Natsu's face paled as he imagined what Mira would do to him if he broke that promise.

"Gross, don't call me mam, I'm not that red headed witch. Anyways, let's eat." Mira smiled at the Dragon Slayer again.

"Finally! Itadakimasu!"

xXx

So how was it? Like I said, I will be using the same first few chapters from "Bonds Stemmed from Mourning" as a basis for the first few chapters in this sequel since the main difference is going to be where the time skip happened since I'll be taking the alternate route this time around. This chapter was also a way of me letting you know that I'm back and haven't forgotten about my stories :) So let's get back into old habits and see some reviews and feedback coming through! PM me, Review, etc. etc.! I can't wait to hear from you all.

~ Kurisu