A/N: Hey everyone! I intend this story to be pure romance. Expect lots of fluff, a bit of drama, and hopefully some good character development throughout. I understand that Mira x Laxus isn't one of the more canon pairings so it's a little more difficult to write their interactions. Expect some ElfGreen later on as well with hints at other pairings.

Anyway, enjoy!

The three Strauss siblings sat around the campfire together after their first long day of training in the mountains. Mirajane smiled and stood up after finishing her fish and walked over to her and Lisanna's tent, gathering up a few things out of it.

"Lisanna, I'm going to go take a bath in that large pond we found earlier. Would you like to join me?" She smiled warmly at her younger sister, who smiled back wearily and then yawned.

"Sorry Mira, I'm pretty worn out. Besides, I don't think I smell TOO bad." At this, Elfman sniffed the air and grinned.

"Having a smell is a MAN!"

Ignoring her brother, the youngest Strauss continued, waving her hand in the air. "You go on ahead. I think I'm just going to go sleep. "

With that, she yawned again and stretched her arms outwards, standing up wearily and slowly walking back to the tent past her elder sister. Mirajane watched Lisanna disappear through the flaps, giggling as she heard a low groan followed by the thump of the younger animal soul mage collapsing onto the sleeping pad. The eldest take over mage looked back at her brother, who was smiling goofily as he stirred the flames of their now fading campfire. He caught her looking at him and smiled more gently.

"You go on and take your bath. I'll clean everything up here for tonight."

Mira smiled back warmly and finished gathering up her things. "Thank you, Elfman. I'm not sure how long I will be, so don't wait up for me, okay?"

The muscular Strauss sibling furrowed his brow a bit, but smiled again. "Alright. Just be careful, okay sis?"

At this, the silver-haired barmaid chuckled and walked over to her brother, planting a light kiss on his temple.

"Elfman, this is only the first day. If I was already injured then I wouldn't be much use in the tournament anyway. Besides…" She straightened herself up, adjusting the garments and other bathing items she held in her arms as she smiled broadly. "Your big sister is the second strongest woman in Fairy Tail. You forget that I can put you in your place if I want to… So long as you don't use any under-handed tricks on me, such as saying you're getting married." She smirked as her brother's cheeks went bright red and his jaw dropped a little.

"Th-That wasn't me! That was Ever's—"

"Ohh, so she's just 'Ever' now? My, my…" The demon mage tittered.

Elfman's face went another shade darker. Satisfied, Mirajane threw him her most devilishly innocent smile and turned on her heel, heading towards the pond with a spring in her step, leaving her younger brother red-faced and sputtering.

"Goodnight little brother! Sweet dreams!"

Meanwhile, at another camp in the mountains...

Laxus stared at the flames of their campfire. They had three whole months until the tournament, and even though it was only the first day of training, he was already bored. Naturally he appreciated the Ranjishu, but in terms of power they really were not even close to a match for him. Sure, Freed could use his runes in combination with Bixlow's puppets to create some obstacle courses and reflex training, but he wanted to improve his sheer power.

He let out a heavy sigh, jabbing at the flames with a stick while resting his chin and cheek in the other hand, his elbow propped up on his knee. There really was not anyone he could properly spar with on that front. Gramps was still mad that he was even in the guild at all and Gildarts had run off yet again. He had no idea where Erza was either and Mystogan had apparently gone back to some other dimension or universe or something while the lightning mage was in exile. He sighed again. Did it even matter? He was not much on being social anyway, other than with his three close companions, and sparring required some amount of socialization. Of course, he could always try to find Natsu, Gray, Gajeel or Elfman and just beat them up- though that would provide only so much amusement. He grumbled a bit and stood up, tossing his stick into the fire and stuffing his large hands into his pockets as he slouched his shoulders.

"Ah, Laxus, are you going somewhere?" The rune mage looked up, smiling fondly at the blonde man.

Laxus grunted and gave the flamboyant green haired man a nod. "Yeah. I think I'm going to go take a bath in that lake or pond or whatever we found earlier."

The rune mage's eyes lit up "Would you like me to join you?"

"Join you join you!" Echoed Bixlow's floating companions as their master cackled loudly.

Evergreen raised one eyebrow at Freed, grimacing slightly at his rather bold inquiry.

Laxus raised an eyebrow as well, forcing an awkward smile. "Uh, no thanks. I'll just go by myself."

With that he quickly turned away, waving his hand as he walked out of their campsite into the darkening forest nearby, ignoring the somewhat disappointed look on the green haired mage's face.

He walked for a little while along the beaten down forest path, which was gradually growing smaller the deeper in he got. He did not seem to mind or even notice, however, as he was lost deep in his own thoughts. He wondered how exactly he was going to pass the time. Sure, he would 'train' every day with the others, but he knew that this would end up being more for their benefit than his. Not that he minded their company- Truthfully, he really had missed them during his exile. Sure, Freed was a bit annoying and overly clingy, Evergreen was a haughty bitch and Bixlow was just weird, but they were still his closest friends and the three people he knew he could count on. Maybe even his only friends, now that he thought about it. The others did seem happy to see him and have him back, and they always said he was a part of their family, but he just never felt like he was.

The lightning dragon slayer had always felt like a bit of an outcast, even moreso after his father was exiled from the guild. He had come to realize over the course of his own expulsion that most of these feelings were his own fault, though he knew many of them stemmed from his upbringing. He was raised by his power hungry father, and even then the man only partially raised him. His grandfather had taken over for the most part, but by the time he took full responsibility for him the young lightning mage was a rebellious teenager who had been raised by an egomaniac…

With you gone, I brush the desk

As the shadow drops, I'm alone again today

Looking up at the sky, I pray

Knowing you're under this same sky…

Laxus slowed down, lifting his head up as he was gently pulled out of his dark thoughts by the most soothing voice he had ever heard in his life.

At times when you're shaking with tears

A soothing voice he had heard before. Many times before.

And times when you seem to be engulfed by the darkness

A voice that he had always been drawn to. One he would go out of his way to hear- Even going so far as to sneak out into one of the trees outside of the girls' dorm at Fairy Hills just to catch even a few lyrics sung by that silky voice.

Don't forget…

A voice that always calmed him down.

You always have…

That made him feel welcome and cared for.

You always have a place to return to

A voice that he had always felt, or at least wished…

…And people that are waiting for you.

…was singing directly to him.

He realized now he was practically running through the brush, punching tree branches aside that got in his way even in the slightest. He slowed down just before the clearing that he could see through the trees ahead, gingerly stepping through.

Night was fully upon them now, the sky painted a mixture of dark blues and dotted with bursts of turquoise around the moon and stars. The large pond glistened in the moonlight, its calm waters reflecting the night sky and everything nearby as if it were a mirror with the tinniest of ripples in it. Near the shore, however, was something that glowed and shined more than anything else, like lone star in the night sky.

Long, gently curly and angelic white hair that shone more brightly than the moon itself tumbled down pale and smooth shoulders, cascading over the nipples of two ample breasts, pooling around a perfect waist in intricate patterns at the water's surface. This elegant silky hair framed an even more elegant and perfect face, smooth and gentle, with two large and kind sapphire eyes now slightly covered by loose bangs that were normally up in a small ponytail. However, even through the bangs, the awestruck dragon slayer could see the blue orbs pouring into him.

Staring right at him as he admired her unclothed body.

…Oh. Damnit.

"Who… Laxus? Is that you?"

The lightning mage just stood there, dumbfounded, trying his best not to look anywhere but her face as his own flushed slightly.

"Uh, hey, Mira."

A/N: Hey everyone! Hope you enjoyed that! The song I put there is an English translation of the actual song Mirajane sings in the anime, "Tabidatsu no Mono He. I'm not a fan of mixing Japanese and English together so I just used the translated version.

Let me know what you think of the fic so far and what sort of things you'd like to see in future chapters! I know where I'm going with it, but the road there has not yet been paved. =)

By the way, I'm setting this at T for now but it uhh... Might change to M at some point. We will see.