Welcome to my AU of Fairy Tail. For those reading, this is a NaLi story, so those who don't like it don't hate on people that do and enjoy the work. If you don't want to read, you can stop right here, but give it a chance, you may like it.
Winter had begun in the city of Magnolia, and someone ran through the wind chilled streets, trying to reach her destination before sunset. Her two tone blue scarf blew in the wind behind her, her face red from the near freezing winds. She could see her target at the end of the long road, a smile soon on her lips. "I'm back." She said after entering the wooden building. "Lisanna, Makarov is in his office." A brown haired woman said, probably close to her 20's, but not there yet. She wore a bikini top and jeans, taking some hefty gulps of a mysterious liquid(we all know what it is, right?). "Thanks Cana." Lisanna walked to the back of the place, and then up the stairs, taking a right until reaching a door with the Academy's insignia on it. She knocked twice, and called out to the old man. "You can come in."
Opening the door, she approached the headmaster. "So, what did you find?" The puny headmaster sat in his leather chair, a big mug of ale in his hand. "What Gildarts said was right. I suggest sending Mira-nee to make the recruiting." "Mmmm... I was thinking of sending Erza, but I can ask her. Out of curiosity, why Mira?" The white haired girl sighed. "He's socially awkward because of his skill, and Erza is the same when it has to do with new people. She tends to turn aggressive when she's frustrated..."
The day had finally arrived, and the youngest of the Strauss siblings watched her sister, Mirajane, leave. "Bye Mira-nee! Remember what I told you!" Not turning back, she waved with her hand the Fairy Tail Academy hand sign. 'Alright, Master said something about him being socially awkward, and Lisanna mentioned that he loves to fight...maybe he has better communication skills at fighting, meaning a fight is the best way to communicate with him...I'll have to go easy on him.' She walked the streets of Magnolia under the orange dawn sky, a coat over her Fairy Tail Academy uniform. It did't take her long to reach the Magnolia Public School, where she entered the main office. "Miss Strauss, to what do we owe this visit?" The academic director asked. "I'm here for a student. His name is, uh, Natsu." Mirajane said after looking through her small notebook.
The name made the director turn sour. "Oh, that demon..." He whispered to himself. Looking at the white haired beauty, he could see her smirking to an extent one would call devious. "He's not a demon, director, just special. If you think he's a demon, you haven't met one yet..." He would forever regret having spoken those words in front of her.
(Somewhere else, at that time) (Natsu POV)
The bell rang, and I went out of the classroom through the door on the back, avoiding the rest of the students. 'I'm not a demon, I just can't get these horns out of my head!' I know that talking to these people wouldn't work, so I quickly change to my gym clothes and reach the field on the west side of school. Concentrating, I call out my leathery wings and test flap them, ready for a good 2K flight around the track. Looking right, I can see the classroom of the only teacher that doesn't treat me like a demon, Jura Neekis, the history teacher. Somehow, he noticed I would practice alone, and now opens the window; I take the noise it makes as my starting cue, and take off. It takes me 4 minutes, 45 seconds to complete the six laps around the track, and I take my rest below a nice and cool rainbow sakura tree that's out of flowers. The rest of the students arrive and I can feel their eyes boring holes on me, so I just close my eyes and take a nap. None of the students at this class come more than ten feet close to me, so I tend to nap here uninterrupted.
Normal POV
The white haired beauty waited until being calm enough to exit the office in search of Natsu Dragneel. Having removed her coat, she held it over her left arm to hide her tattoo. 'Now where could this Dragneel be?' *SLAM* She quickly turned, and saw Jura Neekis inside the classroom, so she stepped in. "Jura-sensei." The called man turned to her. "Mirajane! It's been a long time since I last saw you, how's Makki treating you?" He approached her and gave her a hug, then sat down at his desk chair. "Master Makarov is behaving, for now. I'm here to attempt a recruiting(hope that's how it's said)." This intrigued Jura. "Mmmm...who are you taking?" He stroked his long goatee beard while trying to guess. "I'm here for a Natsu Dragneel." The previously silent class began murmuring. "Let's talk outside Mirajane." He stood up, shoot a deadly glare at the class, and walked out of the classroom, the Strauss girl behind him. He closed the sliding door behind Mirajane and sighed happily. "Finally, someone decided to take him. Be a good girl and tell everyone at Fairy Tail to treat him like family, he needs one. If you're looking for him, he's at the fields outside of my classroom." She bowed respectfully at his words and walked away.
She now knew everything she needed: the class he was in and where he was. Walking on the school fields, she transformed into her Satan Soul, creating a wave of slack jawed students at her wake when she approached Natsu. Thirty feet away, someone stepped in front of her. "Stop, you don't have to get closer to this demon. You'll get cursed." She slowly inspected this student: he had long black hair held in a kind of ponytail, with a white sweater and a small flute necklace. "I seriously doubt I'll get cursed, so let me pass." Stepping forward and passing him, she approached Natsu, but the same one stood again in her way. "I'm Kageyama, and I can't let you approa..." He stopped talking, and everyone gasped. "I said I was going to pass." She threw him to a nearby tree, and broke it leaving an unconscious Kageyama slumped on the floor.
She was now two feet from him, inspecting him as he slept. 'He does look innocent...' She thought, the moved her hand to his shoulder. Just when it made contact with him, his eyes shot open. "What do you want?" His tone was cold, and she flared her power. "I want a fight with you." Standing up, he walked to the center of the field, then showed his wings, the tattoo glowing slightly in his arm. "Ready when you are." He said, making a come here wave with his hand. With a predatory smirk, Mirajane pushed off of the ground at speeds that made seeing what she did impossible, then she tried to kick him in the gut to end it in one move, but he had sidestepped her, letting her continue her trajectory until she righted herself with the help of her wings. "That's some speed you got there, but it's not enough." She couldn't get the thought out of her head that he sounded cocky, so it was time to stop pulling punches.
It had been five minutes now, and she found herself at an impasse. "Let's call it a draw, shall we?" She was eager to get it done, having proven that he was more than adequate. "Alright, I have no complaints." He removed his wings and walked up to her. "It was a nice fight." She shook his outstretched hand and gave him an insignia. "Welcome to Fairy Tail. Come with me." She grabbed his hand and began dragging him. "But I have classes now!" He looked at the window were Jura was, his next class, but he could see him smiling and waving goodbye. "It doesn't matter, you're part of Fairy Tail Academy now."
It had been nine months now since he joined Fairy Tail, as everyone called it, and he loved it there. The academy allowed to take jobs so the students could be independent. It took him most of the first month, but he had discovered the identity of the cat he had met in his previous school. Every day at PE, he would take his usual nap under the Sakura tree, and he could feel a cat approach him. At first he dismissed it as a regular cat, but after a few times, he could sense something else. It didn't act on instincts like a normal cat, but instead it studied him, like a normal person would. Today he was going to put to use what Mirajane told him. After asking her about the cat in a discrete way(not really, the complete opposite), he walked out of Fairy Tail and went to nap under a tree. Just as he expected, the cat appeared, taking it's place next to him.
~Flashback~
"Ok Natsu, if you want to talk to Lisanna and get to know her, you have to relax her first. To do that, you start by gently massaging her scalp. When I do that she puts her head on my lap; I don't know if she'll do the same with you, but after you finish with her head, you should rub the space between her shoulder blades in a circular motion. Finally, you stroke her back slowly, and she'll be ready to talk." Mirajane was talking to him from behind the bar while cleaning some glasses. "Are you sure it'll work? Natsu asked. "Of course it will. It's not like she'll fall asleep while you try to talk to her."
~Flashback End~
'Well, here goes...' He moved his hand from his side to the top of the feline's head, moving his fingers from the top of the head to the back of the neck. He spent a few minutes doing this, and felt her shift position. She moved her head from between her paws to his lap. 'Seems I'm doing it right.' He now descended until reaching the space between the shoulder blades and gave it a rub. In a few minutes, her breathing had slowed, and she was now facing his torso. He then began stroking her back, and that did the trick; the cat fell asleep, and transformed back into the white haired girl.
He observed her curiously, as she rested her head on his lap with a warm smile on her lips. Out of increasing curiosity, he began stroking her hair, which earned him a response that made him freeze for a moment. When he stroked her hair, she moved her arms and began hugging him like a pillow. His face had for some reason began to heat up. 'Why does my face feel so warm?' Not knowing what to do now since she was asleep, he just laid there against the tree, with Lisanna resting her head on his lap and his hand in her hair.
Minutes turned into hours, and that time helped him think on some things. He had been feeling strange around Lisanna, and all of his symptoms pointed to one thing: he liked her. How could it be; sure he was nice to her, and liked to spend a lot of time with her, but he didn't even try to make her like him. He was just being himself. A whimper brought his attention back to the girl resting on his lap. She was hugging him tighter than before, and she trembled slightly. "...Natsu...don't go..." The salmon haired boy looked wide eyed at her. 'I left more than three months ago, why is she dreaming about me leaving? And I didn't stay away for more than a week.' He cautiously placed his hand on her back and began rubbing small circles on it to soothe her, but she did something he didn't expect. Tears began to roll out of her eyes and on to his shirt.
"Natsu...don't leave me. I can't...I..." Her eyes kept pouring out tears at a faster rate, and he was beginning to panic. 'She must be having a nightmare or something.' Without thinking he brought his hand to her face and cupped her cheek, using his thumb to rub her tears away. For some mysterious reason, she stopped trembling, and nuzzled her face on his hand. She then opened her eyes. 'What do I tell her? Wait, how do I explain this position she's in?!' Her ice blue eyes looked directly at his dark onyx ones, puffy from her earlier crying. Tearing up some more, she glomped him and placer her head on the crook of his neck. "Natsu*snif* please don't leave me again.*snif* I don't want to be alone again!*snif* I want to be with you!*snif* I love you."
He was shocked to say the least, but quickly recovered hugging her in the process. Words didn't leave his mouth even if he tried to, so he just hugged her, making small circles on her back and trying to make her feel safe. When she calmed down enough, she looked at him and wiped her tears away. "I'm sorry, I said some strange things because of my dream. I'm pathetic, aren't I?" Not answering her, he touched her forehead with his. "There's no need to be sorry. It's ok." They both stayed like that, until Lisanna had calmed down. "You know, I had time to think, and what happened right mow made me realize something. Seeing you cry is painful, and I don't like it. Whenever I'm close to you I feel funny on the inside, and when I left for a week three months ago, I felt empty for some reason. I don't want you to be alone. I don't know what to say, but I feel something for you." He sighed, and continued. "I don't know what I'm feeling right now, so could you wait for a bit until I'm ready to answer you?" She looked at him with a smile. "...Alright..." He returned her a smile, and closed his eyes. Taking the chance, Lisanna cupped his face with her hands and planted her lips on his. It was short, gentle, and sweet; conveying her emotions to him.
She parted, her face red up to her ears, and looked away. "Well, I, uh...forgot that...I have to go..." She pushed a bang of her hair out of her face and briskly walked away to her house, leaving the pink headed boy to analyze everything. That kiss had shown him the depth of her feelings, just how much she loved him. Inside his mind, he had already decided that he loved her as well; now he just needed the right moment to confess to her, and make her cry, but this time out of happiness.