"I learned of it by accident only a few years ago when someone broke into my home and decided to dig through my things for a cursed object."

"That was an accident. I thought no one was home. Rogue lied to me."

"I did not. I told you to be quiet because someone might hear you."

~Yukino, Sting, & Rogue; Between the Lines, Chapter 13

The sound of something shattering snapped Yukino Auguria awake and she hastily sat up, drawing her blanket around her shoulders. Her lips pressed together, her eyes darting this way and that as she searched her dark space to locate the source. Her fingers sought for her phone, but she remembered leaving it in the kitchen and she cursed herself.

Anxious now, Yukino searched the area around her for a weapon. She came up with the remote and shrugged to herself, gripping it as she climbed to her feet. Nervously, she treaded through her home until she found herself faltering in he bedroom doorway. She could hear a low rumbling voice grumbling in there, muttering about something or another.

Swallowing thickly, Yukino ducked into the room and demanded, "Who's there?"

Immediately, she wanted to smack herself, because honestly, the only one who shouted that? The person who died first in a horror film. Irritated, she wielded her remote, trembling just barely as the person who'd broken in through her window and tripped over her nightstand while sending its contents flying whirled around to face her with a shocked wheeze.

Yukino let the remote fly and it smacked off of the man's face. He yelped, dropping with a hand covering his nose, and she stood there shivering in fear, ready to bolt if need be. There was a moment of silence as the man tried to comprehend what he'd just been hit with.

Finally, he demanded, "Did you...you just threw a TV remote at my face, lady!"

"And you invaded my home!" she shrieked back.

"...point taken, but that hurt." He took a moment, rubbing his face, and then jolted. "Oh, shit, there's someone home?!" He shot to his feet, looking ready to dive right back out through the window he'd shattered.

"Don't you move a muscle," Yukino hissed. "You're staying right there and I'm calling the cops on you-"

"No, wait, I'm not here to steal - well, sort of, but the thing is kind of cursed, so I need to get it the hell out of here-"

"Oh, wow," Yukino breathed. "You're really insane."

There was another moment as they stared each other down.

And then Yukino whirled, abandoning her blanket. She darted for her phone in the kitchen and he swore as he gave chase. She screeched as he tackled her to the ground, struggling to pin her there and cover her mouth at the same time, but she fought viciously, raking her nails down his cheek as she tried to get away.

"Will...you...hold...still!" he cried, sounding exasperated. "I'm trying to help you! I didn't even think someone was home! That bastard lied to me...I'm gonna throttle him next time I see him - oof!" He grunted as she kneed him in the stomach and then ran around the other side of the couch. He caught himself on the armrest after trying to catch her again, eyes wide as blood dripped down his cheek from where she'd scratched him.

"Stay away from me," Yukino said darkly, looking for something else to use as a weapon and regretting the fact that she didn't have anything else to use.

"I'm trying to help," he practically wailed. "There's a cursed object in here somewhere that I need to take, and then I'll leave!"

"Liar!" she squealed, finding another remote. He ducked as she threw it, smirking only to receive a pillow in the face. He spat something that seemed to turn the pillow into a mess of burned feathers.

Her jaw dropped. He froze, and then fisted his hands in his hair, swearing. "Damn it! You didn't see that, you hear me?! You saw nothing! Look, just show me where the weirdest oldest item you have is and I'll leave after that!"

"Did you just turn my pillow into nothing?" she whispered, a trickle of fear running down her spine.

"Uh...so I'm going to guess that the Sabertooth check is a no," he muttered and then pointed at her. "You! I won't hurt you! I promise. But you will get hurt by something else if you don't help me find the cursed object!"

"Leave," she retorted, "And maybe I won't throw something at you!"

"I can't until I have that object!" he replied, frustrated. "What if I pay you? I'll give you money to let me look around for it! I will literally pay you however much money you want to let me run around and find this thing and then I'll even pay you again for the object."

Yukino was somewhat offended. "Am I really that poor-looking?" she huffed. "I didn't know that breaking into someone's house meant you were allowed to insult them, too."

He moaned in frustration, flustered. "I didn't mean to insult you, I just meant that...uh, damn, how do I explain any of this-"

He was cut off when something crashed to the ground, shattering. Both looked over their shoulders at a vase that had been knocked off a shelf and somehow broken itself. Yukino's lips parted, and then her mouth closed as she tried to comprehend what she was looking at. A moment later, the entire shelf crashed to the ground, a breath away from her, and she squealed, racing around to stand beside the person who'd broken in.

He gawked at the tipped shelf. "...did you break anything old sometime in the last week or so?"

"A pot I'd been using as a planter. Why?"

"Cursed object." He suddenly spun around to face her, dropping his hands heavily onto her shoulders. She jumped, dark eyes snapping wide. He suddenly grinned hugely and told her cheerfully, "Alright, Miss-"

"Auguria. Yukino Auguria."

"Alright, Miss Auguria. Here's what's going to happen. You broke a cursed object and released a spirit that has been imprisoned in there for thousands of years and was probably hiding itself in your house to avoid detection. It's by no fault of your own, of course. But I'm going to need you to walk you pretty little self outside and stamp on a shadow in the shape of a tree that has no tree to make it - it should be to the left of your front door. When someone inevitably climbs out of seemingly nowhere, you're going to tell him that Sting Eucliffe is very, very unhappy with him and then send him in to help me, okay?"

"...okay?" she squeaked, and then shrieked when he shoved her head down and ducked his own. A knife flew over their heads and shattered itself on a brick wall from the force. "Oh, my-"

"Go," he ordered, pushing her towards the door, settling into a stance as he braced himself, his jaw dropping. Yukino paused to stare when a massive ball of blinding white light seemed to swirl into view, his blue eyes narrowing into slits as he unleashed the light upon a book that flew at him.

By the time ash struck the floor, there was nothing left.

Yukino rushed to the door, yanking desperately after unlocking it, but found to her horror that it wouldn't open. "Mr. Eucliffe," she called, "It's not opening!" He glanced back, caught sight of what was happening, and slowly backed towards her, a sound akin to a growl rumbling from his throat.

"Move," he muttered. She stepped aside and he tested the door before swearing under his breath and dropping to his knees, checking the handle. After tugging a few more times he finally just told her, "Sabertooth will pay for repairs," and summoned that same odd white light to his mouth.

He quite literally blasted down the door and then pushed her through the empty door frame. She rushed down the steps that led to her door as he yelped, hunting the strange shadow she'd been told to look for. Rather than stamping on it like Sting had told her to do, however, Yukino crouched and awkwardly tapped on it, furrowing her brow. "Um, excuse me?"

She nearly screamed when the shadows jerked away and swirled together, a head rising out of the center of them. Crimson eyes stared at her in surprise. Before he could get a word in, she said quickly, "Um, Mr. Eucliffe is having some problems and said you would help him."

He stared at her for a few more moments and then suddenly surged entirely out of the shadows. She found herself bewildered at the odd clothes he wore. What looked like a traditional piece of clothing had been put on halfway, leaving his arm free to move while showing off an odd symbol like a sabertooth tiger's head in black. What looked like black leather armor covered his chest, and she didn't have time to see what the rest of his outfit was before he'd darted inside.

"You're bleeding!"

The high-pitched voice caught her attention and her head snapped around. Yukino squeaked in surprise at the sight of two cats - one in a blue vest with red fur and the other with green fur and a frog suit - standing here, tails waving. She almost didn't believe it was them who were speaking.

Until the red-furred cat said very seriously, "You should make sure to get that looked at, lady, it's not good when you hit your head."

"I didn't hit my head," she whispered, unable to comprehend what she needed to do. Did she call the cops? No, they'd send her to a mental institution to get her looked at…

Her breath came quickly and heavily suddenly, and tears gathered in her eyes. The frog-suited cat looked horrified as he scrambled over and straight into her lap. She jumped as he purred and looked soothingly up at her with happy eyes. "You'll be okay," he promised.

She gave a hysterical laugh. "Talking cats. Who would have thought. There are talking cats and there's strangers breaking in and fighting with a ghost or something, all while-" She cut off, bursting into tears.

The cat in the frog suit looked anxiously to his friend, who shrugged his shoulders and scoffed, "Humans."

Yukino ended up spending the remainder of the night in a chair on the porch, curled up with a blanket she'd miraculously left out there. By the time she'd awoken, Sting Eucliffe and the weird cats and his friend were gone. She swallowed thickly as she stared at her destroyed door and the mess that was her living room and dining room.

"I suppose," she muttered. "I could call the police...but what the hell do I tell them?"

"Yukino?" she heard a neighbor call. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"Fine!" Yukino called back, pressing her lips together. "Um, I'm not entirely sure." Quickly, she lied, "I came home a few minutes ago and found my house like this. I guess someone broke in and wrecked the place?"

Her neighbor sympathetically made a noise. "Want me to call the police?" he offered.

She shook her head. "No, I'll do it. Thank you though." She scratched her head uncertainly, hand on her hips.

Where did she even begin?

She contemplated this as the neighbor wandered away - some neighbor he was, not even insisting on making sure nobody was in the house. She shook her head and sank onto the steps with a groan, rubbing her temples.

"Excuse me? Miss Auguria?"

Yukino raised her head again, furrowing her brow.

Before her was none other than the man she'd seen emerge from the shadows the night before. He was dressed in clothes that weren't nearly as weird as the ones he'd worn last night - a simple black hoodie and a pair of jeans. He was alone, his dark hair drawn into a ponytail at the back of his head. In the daylight, she could now see that his eyes were closer to a ruby color than crimson.

He offered his hand to shake, serious. "I'm Rogue Cheney, a mage of Sabertooth. I'll be staying with you until that moron is done being questioned by the Council and can come speak to you about options."

Her mouth opened and then closed, because what could she even say?

Finally, she said faintly, "Um, I suppose there's no way I can send you away, is there?"

He gave her a thoughtful look. "My apologies, but no."

"Then come in," she sighed. "I mean, I don't really have anywhere for you to sit anymore, but you're welcome to find somewhere. My house was only wrecked a little, you know."

He grimaced. "We'll repay you for any damages caused."

"Thank you, but I'd really just like to lay down and go to sleep and never wake up at this point," Yukino muttered. "Apparently there's a lot of things I didn't know about."

To her surprise, he chuckled. "The reality of the world is rarely pleasant. I'm willing to answer any questions you may have while we wait for Sting and whatever member of the Council that comes with."

Yukino didn't hesitate to demand, "What was the light in his mouth?"

"Magic. White dragon slayer magic, to be precise." They made their way into her destroyed house. "He is the only known white dragon slayer. I myself possess shadow dragon slayer magic. There are three other dragon slayers, all in the Fairy Tail guild, but there are only five of us in total."

Yukino noted this. "What were the talking cats?"

He looked surprised. "I had forgotten you saw them...Frosch and Lector. We aren't sure on what magic allows them to talk. They grow wings and fly as well if they feel like it. Frosch is my friend, and while I am fond of Lector, he is more of Sting's friend. I'm considered to be Sting's partner. In our world, a partner is someone you're close with and regularly work with. Within guilds there are also teams, but they aren't generally as close as partners."

"So what guild are you a part of? Sabertooth?" She swept some wood off of her couch and with Rogue's help, shoved it upright. When it had been fixed, Rogue settled onto it, but the anxious woman kept cleaning. "And you said there was a guild called Fairy Tail. How many others?"

"We are a part of Sabertooth. Sting was just recently made into the guild master after our last was forcefully retired by the Council and thrown in prison for illegal matters." Rogue tilted his head a fraction as he watched Yukino bustle this way and that, hands fidgeting. His eyes were locked curiously on a necklace she wore, its gold color glittering in the light. She seemed to have forgotten she was wearing it in all of the commotion and every now and then would grip it for comfort. "There's Fairy Tail, a guild we work closely with. They're based in Magnolia. Hargeon has Lamia Scale. Various other guilds are scattered throughout the country. We aren't quite sure about other countries, though the Council works closely with the other Councils."

"Council?"

"Magic Council. They work with the royal family of Fiore and keep us magic users under control. They're like a secretly run government or something similar." Rogue leaned back on the couch. "I take it you're not a mage yourself?"

Yukino shook her head, pausing in picking up pieces of her bookshelf with her hand. "Heavens no. I'm as human as you can get, I suppose." She thoughtfully considered what it would be like to use magic and hesitantly asked, "Guilds...how do they work? Is it only for work?"

He snorted. "Most, no. Ours was strict for years with our last guildmaster, but it's loosened up under Sting. Guilds are meant to be families of mages that work together and help one another in times of need."

Yukino found herself honestly sad that she wasn't a mage. "Ah, that must be nice," she admitted, not looking at him. "Guilds, I mean. My family doesn't really exist. My sister vanished years ago. My parents are dead. A family that isn't necessarily blood sounds just as lovely as having my family back would be."

"Your sister disappeared?" He looked curious. "My father vanished into thin air as well. I doubt they would have had much to do with one another, however. My father was, after all, a dragon."

The wood Yukino had gathered dropped right back to the floor and she openly gawked at the amused looking man on her couch. "You're kidding," she breathed.

He shook his head. "The five dragon slayers were raised by dragons. Mine was the shadow dragon Skiadrum. Sting was raised by-"

"Weisslogia," said man drawled as he stepped into the house, blue eyes glittering with amusement as Yukino's head snapped around. He smirked, showing off larger than average canine teeth and then wiggled his eyebrows playfully at Yukino. "Hello, remote lady."

She let her lips set in a pout and glared openly at him, ignoring the fact that he supported a nasty bruise on his face from where she'd struck him with her TV remote. Instead, she turned her attention on the patient man beside him. Noticing her shift in attention, Sting grandly introduced, "Miss Yukino Auguria, this is Lahar, a member of the Council. Lahar, this is-"

"Yukino Auguria, I assume," he cut in, rolling his eyes. He inclined his head towards the woman. "Forgive us for the scare you received last night, Miss Auguria."

"It's his fault," Sting added, pointing at Rogue. "He said no one was home."

"Again," Rogue sighed, climbing to his feet. "I told you to be quiet or someone would hear you, idiot. I was explaining bits of our world to Miss Auguria," he explained to a curious Lahar. "I thought, perhaps, she might be capable of learning magic herself."

"Really." Lahar looked even more curious.

"You do?" Yukino demanded, just as startled.

"There are thousands of type of magic," Lahar explained, turning to her with a thoughtful look. He offered her a pleasant smile, though it was tight with stress. "There very easily could be a type you could learn if you applied yourself. You'd be required by our law to join a guild, of course. As Sting was the reason you learned of our world, it will fall under his responsibility to watch over you and guide you in a proper direction with magic."

Yukino gave him an uncertain look and Sting pouted. "What? I can be a good person, I promise."

"Rogue would help as well, naturally," Lahar said with an expression of appreciation. "You wouldn't be entrusted entirely to this moron. You'd have to study heavily and be required to take several tests if you were even able to summon a fraction of magic."

"But you'd let me try to learn?" Yukino was amazed - and eager. If they were willing to offer the family that Rogue had mentioned to her-

"Of course. So long as you are willing to keep your mouth shut about it." Lahar suddenly scowled. "We can't afford magic to be revealed. It would cost us greatly and there would be a devastating amount of damage nationwide."

"I'll stay quiet," she said hastily. "I won't say a word."

"Good." Lahar studied her for a moment longer - until Rogue spoke up.

"You can trust us in this," he told him. "We'll watch her, see what we can figure out in regards to various types of magic she could use."

"Oh, I believe that you can be trusted. I'm concerned about Mr. Eucliffe, however, as he's already revealed magic by accident once." Sting's face hardened as Lahar turned to him and said warningly, "Don't forget, Sting. We can strip you of your emblem and throw you into prison should this happen again."

Rogue's hands clenched into fists and Sting glared furiously at Lahar for a moment before growling, "It won't happen again. Why the hell aren't you bastards this strict with Fairy Tail? I know Natsu blew up something again that made the news. Why aren't you throwing him in prison?"

"One, you're a guildmaster and should set an example. Two, it's Fairy Tail. We expect better of the Sabertooth guild." He removed a card from his coat and handed it to Yukino. "Should you find out that you are capable of magic, contact me. If you have not found anything within the next few months, I will come back and we will talk again."

"Yes, sir," Yukino said in a small voice.

Lahar nodded curtly to Sting and left without another word.

When he was gone, Sting made a look of disgust. "I hate the Council."

"Yes, well, without them, we'd have no one to keep the black mages under control," Rogue sighed and then turned to Yukino. "Our guildhall is on the outskirts of the city, but you really shouldn't be entering it until you've learned even a little magic. It'll be bad for Sting. There's still some supporters of the previous guildmaster within the guild."

"It's okay," Yukino reassured. "I can do some research here at home and when I've come up with a list of magic-"

"For one, I'd suggest looking at the Mages of Fiore website," Sting suggested.

"And perhaps focus on celestial magic," Rogue added, his gaze darting to the golden key that hung from her throat. Sting gazed questioningly at his partner, head tilted a fraction. "Celestial magic is one that supposedly summons the stars themselves. If you look at the site Sting mentioned, it says that they're summoned by special keys that hold their specific symbol."

Yukino immediately touched the key at her neck, eyes widening with shock. Her lips parted as she wrapped her fingers around it, knowing instinctively that the zodiac sign for Pisces rested there. "I'll make sure to do that."

Sting mockingly bowed, "Then we'll be off. I'll send a check for repairs in a day or two."

"One of us will stop by tomorrow," Rogue sighed. "Likely me. Sting has a couple dozen stacks of paperwork to see to."

Yukino only smiled. "Thank you."

Rogue ducked out of the house without a backwards glance, but Yukino hastily stopped Sting with a touch to his arm, her dark eyes wide. "I'm sorry about the remote, by the way. Hitting you with it."

"I broke into your house." Sting shrugged, and then offered her a huge grin. "See ya 'round!"

And then he was gone, and Yukino was left alone with her thoughts and a key that she vowed to never lose months later, when she summoned her very first Celestial Spirit.

"Huh," a curious Lucy huffed, chin on her open palm and a drink in front of her. Her brown eyes were warm with excitement, sparkling as Yukino finished her story, and beside her, Natsu snorted. "Your introduction to magic was a hell of a lot more peaceful than mine."

Amused, Yukino, who was settled between Rogue and Sting in a booth at the restaurant the group had agreed to meet up in, smiled and settled back. She wore a kind look on her face as she fiddled with Pisces key. "As you can see, however, the Council was a bit harsher back then on Sabertooth though."

"Let's give your guild all the freedom," Sting said sarcastically. "But heaven forbid we let Sabertooth get out of hand!"

"Oh, hush," Yukino huffed, smacking his arm. She turned her attention back on Lucy. "That wasn't even half as bad as the first time they took me on a job. The guild was friendly. A few people wanted to be friendly the first time I set foot in there, but Sting somehow decided on his own that we and Lector and Frosch were a team, so of course they went with me."

Rogue shuddered at the memory. "I thought Sting was an idiot when he messed up everything for Yukino...that had nothing on what he did then."

"What the hell did you do?" Natsu demanded.

Yukino exchanged a look with Sting when he suddenly slapped a hand over her mouth and glared at her and Rogue. "You swore you would never speak of that again."

"Sting might have let me get buried in an abandoned mine shaft we were searching for a black mage," Yukino told them after shoving his hand away.

Sting moaned pathetically and draped himself over the table dramatically.

Yukino gave a secretive smile when Lucy and Natsu gawked at him and Rogue chuckled at his partner's pain.

"But that's a story for another time."

A Christmas gift for both my lovely editor Bubbles and all of you who read Between the Lines! Thank you all for your continued support! PERHAPS I will write that first mission for Yukino someday. ;)