Natsu & Asuka Omake

From Natsu's POV, with one small change.

After being asked to look after Asuka, Natsu was intent on making sure she had fun. He remembered very well how much fun he used to have with Igneel when he was a kid and thought every kid should have that much fun growing up. That's why he proposed a shooting match, giving her the advantage. Or rather, he made Asuka think she'd proposed the match, when really, he'd challenged her to a game knowing full well she'd pick shooting. He was an excellent shot, not that he was about to let that on to anyone here, not right now. Today was all about Asuka.

"The rules of the match are simple. Whoever hits the most targets wins." Warren announced. "Natsu has to spit fire from his mouth—"

"I ain't gonna lose, no matter what!" He cackled, giving off the air of a real challenge.

"—and Asuka-chan's gonna use her toy gun."

"If you lose, you gotta listen to whatever I say!" She challenged.

"Right back at ya!" Natsu accepted.

He could feel Lucy's indulgent but disbelieving look even before she spoke. "You're facing off against a little kid; have you no shame?"

Of course he did. Why was that even a question? Did she really believe he would beat a little kid and make her cry? One of their nakama, no less? He couldn't announce any of his intentions, though. That would ruin Asuka's fun.

"All's fair in love and war!" He cackled loudly, enjoying playing the villain just a little bit. Okay, maybe a lot. This was fun, this kid stuff. "There ain't no kids or adults in a contest! I said I'm gonna win, so I will!"

Which, to be honest, was kind of how he'd be raised. Igneel didn't believe on going easy on him but they'd still had fun. He thought Asuka would have more fun is she won the game, though.

Lucy just gave him another one of those indulgent, it-can't-be-helped looks that she seemed to reserve especially for him. He liked them, it made him feel like he was getting away with something. "Way to act like an adult."

Happy, of course, knew exactly what he was doing, his perfect best friend and partner (aside from Lucy) and defended him in just the right way. "Well Natsu is just a really big kid, after all."

Perfect. The stage was set. Now to lose horribly and without any shame! He made a big deal of trying and horribly missing. He even had a little fun and set a few things, or rather people, on fire. This really was the best, playing like this! Of course, Asuka won by a landslide, although he pretended to improve by the end. Asuka gloated and did a little kid victory dance before giving her first order. She wanted him to be a pony. Oh good. This would be fun. Now he could act all reluctant as he indulged her some more! Today was turning out to be a real riot!

"Faster, faster!" She told him, tugging on his scarf. He pretended to grumble, crawling around on his hands on knees with her on his back. He wondered vaguely if Igneel had felt like this, carrying him around? Powerful and yet so worried, concerned that the child on his back my suddenly tumble off. He didn't want that, would never want that, he felt a small bit of warmth settle in his chest like heart burn, except better, at the thought that this must be what it was like to be a dad. He'd never given it much thought before, but he wondered if his own dad, his human one, before Igneel, had wanted to do such games with him?

"Faster, run faster, Mr. Horsey!"

"Oh dear…" Happy laughed at his expense.

The others of the guild were laughing at him too. "Natsu looked pretty pathetic out there."

"Well, Asuka-chan's parents are both top-notch snipers."

His ears practically itched with the burn to turn his head towards Lucy when she spoke up. She'd been quiet this whole time, just watching him with Asuka with a weird look on her face. He didn't like it when she was quiet; Lucy wasn't Lucy unless she was loud and crazy, just like everyone else.

"Speaking of her parents… Where are Alzack and Bisca?"

Happy was quick to reply. "On a job! That's why they asked the guild to look after Asuka-chan today."

Stupid cat. He was taking away Lucy's attention from him. She could watch him with all the creepy, weird expressions she wanted, so long as she paid attention to him. He opened his mouth to, well he's not sure what he'd do once he had her attention, but Asuka beat him to the punch, regardless.

"Natsu! I wanna go to the park!"

Whoa, whoa, hey now! That was pushing it a bit! It was all fine and dandy to be embarrassing in here but outside? All of Magnolia would see him, for crying out loud! "Are ya gonna make me crawl around outside like this!?" He demanded, not able to help the little squeak in his voice.

"Mhm!" This kid! She didn't even think about the response!

Lucy was laughing though. "You lost the game, so you better put up with it!"

Well… If Lucy said so, she kind of had a point. Though he hated to admit Lucy had a point. Macao and the others spoke up as well. "Natsu, take care of Asuka."

"Apparently, there have been some shady looking guys spotted around town. Be careful."

Careful? He was a dragon slayer! He didn't need to be careful! People needed to be careful of him! But first, no way was he going out like this alone. Too embarrassing. He had to drag someone with him, a willing or not so willing, victim; and he had just the person in mind. He turned and grinned at Lucy, who shrieked a little and backed up a bit. She knew what was coming next…

Fifteen minutes later, they were in the park. He'd managed to convince Asuka to let him walk part of the way there, mostly because it would take too long crawling. Not before he throughly embarrassed Lucy by making her walk beside them like that, though. That was fun! Lucy was too up tight about things like that, which was why her reactions were so entertaining! He loved poking fun at her. Lucy was the best, right after Happy! Now he was playing with Asuka in the park, and he was the bank robber she was chasing.

"Halt! Villain!" She laughed, shooting him with her cork screw gun. The little corks flew off his back, and while they didn't exactly hurt, it was kind of uncomfortable, like stinging feeling.

"Ow! Ow!" He made his movements super exaggerated and flailed about, running from her. He didn't care who watched them or made fun of him for this later, but Asuka was definitely going to have fun today.

Lucy sighed. "How'd I get dragged along too…" She wondered.

As if she didn't know she had to go practically everywhere with him. They were partners, after all! If she went somewhere he couldn't see, how could he protect her? She had to know exactly why she was forced to come along. She hadn't even put up that much of a resistance, coming along after that token first shriek, sighing as if she'd known for all the world this was going to happen. They were team, of course they couldn't be apart.

"If Natsu went by himself, we'd have a lot of stuff to worry about…" Happy nodded sagely.

What stuff? Asuka was always going to be perfectly alright with him! He knew how to handle this make-the-kid-have-fun stuff and dad stuff! No problems here! None what so ever!

Askua laughed at him again. "Natsu, since you're so sucky at shooting, I'll teach you!" She bragged.

"Acting all high and might, you runt!" He put on his best villain face but she wasn't scared of him. Of course not.

"This is an order! Stand right there!" She pointed to the edge of a fountain. Of course he followed that order to the letter. "Now, jump into that!"

"Oof!" He jumped in, as if his body had a mind of it's own. Really, this kid. She had the craziest fun ever. She laughed like crazy at him. "The hell are you making me do!?" He asked fiercely.

She looked at him blankly for a moment, then her face got very disappointed. And without missing a beat, she wobbled her lower lip and her eyes got glassy with unshed tears. "But, but you said that for the rest of today, you'd listen to whatever I said…"

He hadn't even really been yelling at her but really. What was it with girls and tears? He didn't know how to handle girls crying. He'd been a mess the first time he sawLucy cry. If she started crying right now, he'd probably be a mess again too. It was really unfair! Girls just had to cry a little and he turned to mush! Not fair at all!

"Okay, next, I wanna go on a job!" Asuka cried, realizing she'd won and turning on a dime. Of course, that could be because she was telling Lucy this. Lucy, who was wearing that indulgent smile that was supposed to be meant only for him. Except now it was turned on Asuka. Doubly unfair.

"That's out of the question."

Happy nodded sagely. "You're still too little."

"But Happy, you're little too!" Asuka argued back. She smiled brightly at them as Natsu came to stand beside Lucy, almost as if it was natural. "I have this thing I wanna buy! And so I need money, and then…"

Natsu stared her down. He wasn't saying no just yet but that sounded way too dangerous for a four year old. "She's a cocky son of a gun." And he had to admit, he kind of admired that.

Lucy was trying to be understanding and reasonable. "You really have to ask your parents for permission first, Asuka."

Her lower lip trembled again as she looked up at the two older mages. "But… You promised…"

And here came the water works. He could feel himself giving in before Lucy. Lucy held out a little bit longer, she was resilient, as expected of a Celestial Mage, but she was no match for Asuka's tears. She was the one who proposed, however, that they only do little, safe jobs, around town. They could go back and ask Mira if she had anything close, and if not, they could go ask around town, see what needed to be done. That was his Lucy, super smart and crafty. Asuka readily agreed to this plan. And Lucy even participated in helping with the missions, making one of her guardians a fountain for a time just for them, even though he knew that she didn't get along with Aquarius. Aquarius scared her, honestly, and they were often bickering and fighting. She still did it, though, to help them out. That's why she was his partner!

Natsu did his part helping out on the jobs too. He fixed things, fusing them back together with the power of heat, and even helped an old lady with her stove so she could cook. Dragon fire breath came in handy. Plus, she let him try a bit of her soup. It was really hard not eating it all, but Asuka was adamant she needed the money. Happy, too, helped delivering stuff, and soon they had enough money to buy the thing Asuka wanted. 50,000 jewels was a lot but after half a days work, they managed to scrape it up.

"You can actually get a lot of money with just one day's work!" Happy was surprised.

Lucy smiled that pretty smile of hers again. "And that's even after we only picked the safe jobs."

Natsu edged closer to her and pretended to grumble under his breath. This wasn't so bad, although he didn't want to make a habit of it. Yeah, it would pay the bills but it wasn't fun or exciting like missions with Happy and Lucy were supposed to be. And there it was, that smile reserved just for him, that it-can't-be-helped smile of Lucy's…

"Stop letting a little kid get underneath your skin…"

As if she'd really gotten under his skin. Asuka grabbed his hand and Lucy's. "Now I can finally buy that!" She cried happily, dragging them away. He followed along, pretending to grumble but he watched Lucy out of the corner of his eye. She seemed truly happy to be dragged along at Asuka's pace. She was smiling. That was good. However, they were all surprised where Asuka took them.

"A pawn shop?"

She dragged them inside and bought a—a thing. "What the heck is that thing?"

Lucy peered over the little girl, curious as well. "It looks like a snow globe."

And it did, just one without a base.

"It's a lacrima, isn't it? So pretty!" Happy purred.

"This is a memento of Papa and Mama's."

What? What was she talking about?

"But then why would it be in a pawn shop?" Lucy asked.

Asuka looked up at them with those big, cute, kid eyes of hers. "I dunno. But when I passed by this place with them one time I heard them talking about it!"

Lucy smiled, looking a little excited. "Oh, I see! So you wanna give that back to Papa and Mama, huh?"

"Mhm!"

Lucy bent down and pulled her into a hug. "What a good girl!"

Asuka laughed, enjoying the hug. Did either of them know how adorable that looked? Natsu watched them carefully, not commenting, just listening, as they spoke of this. And that hug. He kind of wanted to join in. But Lucy might get mad if he draped over her back right now. His vest was still a little damp, even though his scarf and pants had already dried from the fountain. Lucy was scary when she was mad. Too soon, the hug was over with and Asuka wiggled out of the way.

"Hey, Lucy, do you and Natsu kiss?"

That caught him off guard. What?

Lucy was caught off guard, her cheeks turning bright red. "Wha—!?" She couldn't even finish the exclamation. She kept turning redder and redder as Asuka talked.

"Papa and Mama do it all the time."

"U-uh… Natsu and I aren't Mommy and Daddy…" Lucy tried to reason.

Mommy and Daddy, huh? That sounded like fun. Maybe he could figure out a way to play a prank on Lucy using that later. He'd have to figure out a plan with Happy—

"Natsu." He looked at Asuka, who just stared at him expectantly. "It's an order."

"What the!?"

Seriously? No way!

"No way! I'm not gonna…" Lucy protested weakly.

"This little runt has got some pretty adult ideas…" He admitted. Not that he'd never really thought about kissing, it's just, it hadn't occurred to him that he could do that with Lucy. Now that he thought about it though…

"You said you'd listen to whatever I said though…" Asuka pouted.

That sealed the deal. Plus, Natsu was curious. "Well, it ain't like we're gonna die or anything…"

Just one kiss wouldn't change much, right? And Lucy smelled good. He liked her scent. Maybe she tasted good too?

"Wait wait… You've got to be kidding…" Lucy protested, red all the way to her ears now. She leaned back even as Natsu leaned forward. She took a faltering step away. He stepped forward, into her space. Her eyes squeezed tightly closed and she quickly turned her head. He had the insane desire to keep trying anyway, but if she got seriously mad at him… Lucy didn't want to and Lucy was scary when she was mad.

He placed a big kiss on her cheek—and was rewarded with her quickly grabbing Happy and shoving him into his face for his trouble. This was not what he thought kissing his best friend would feel like. And Happy tasted like fish. Gross.

"Kids are scary…" Lucy cried but he could hear her heart beating super fast in her chest from this close.

Asuka, however, was happy. "Eh, good enough."

That is, until one minute she was holding her Mama and Papa's memento, and the next minute it was gone. "Huh?"

She pointed to the sky as one of the flying bandits, men in hang gliders, took off with her special family treasure. Natsu was already over that weird moment. Shit was happening. Things were about to get real. This was no time to be freaking out over the fact that he would now know what cat lips felt like on his own for the rest of his life.

"Who're they?" He snapped.

"Flying bandits!?" Lucy echoed.

The bandits were flying off with Asuka's treasure! She'd work so hard to get it back for her parents. "Happy! Let's fly!"

Except, apparently, Happy had time to be traumatized over the fact that his furry little cat lips would know the touch of human lips. "My precious lips have been ruined…" He sobbed.

"Give it back! Give it back!" Asuka wailed, shooting her little toy gun at the lead bandit. Her little crock screws bounced off with no effect. The bandit laughed at her, taunting that there was no way a toy gun would work on him. "Why… I didn't miss a single shot… GIMME BACK PAPA AND MAMA'S MEMENTO!"

Her impassioned pleas reached his heart the same way Romeo's had when he asked the master to go look for his dad. He ducked her head a little, pushing her hat down so she couldn't see what he was about to do next. Lucy looked at him in confusion.

"Hey, Natsu, that's not…" he couldn't pay attention to his Lucy right now though. He quickly tracked the trajectory of each flying bandit and still holding Asuka's hat down, waited for a second. Pop! She accidentally misfired. Just what he was waiting for, an itchy tiger finger. He spat fire out, targeting each bandit, and struck them all. They cried out in pain and came tumbling down. Serves them right, for making a little girl cry. Behind them, he could feel Lucy analyzing and watching his work with awe and understanding.

Asuka looked up finally, watching the bandits complete their tumble to the ground. "That was pretty awesome, Asuka!" He told her, giving her the confidence boost she needed right now. He smiled down at her happy, awestruck face. "You nailed em with every shot!"

Asuka smiled up at him. She wasn't a fool, even if she was only four. She'd seen that all her shots had connected but had done nothing. Still, it felt pretty good thinking that this is what they might do in the future. And Natsu had helped her do that, so it was like she shot them all down, right?

Behind them, Lucy shook her head, impressed and a little bit humbled by Natsu. Natsu knew she had a better opinion of him now and that felt pretty damn good.

They brought Asuka back to the guild, Lucy carrying the important memento in her now bulging side pocket, where she usually kept her keys. Between them, Asuka swung back and forth happily, latched on tightly to their hands. Natsu looked over at Lucy, who was staring ahead. She looked down at Asuka fondly when she asked to go again, helped her swing between the two of them, and then finally caught him staring. He grinned widely at her, she pinked for a moment before returning it with a wide grin of her own. Yup. That was his Lucy. Even with a kiss between them (and one with Happy) they were still best friends. This was the best.

Asuka was so excited when Alzack and Bisca returned, running to hug them. They told her they'd brought back presents and she bounced up and down, excited, though not for the reason they thought. She ran back to Lucy real quick, who handed her the lacrima. Asuka happily presented it to her parents. "I have this present for you too!"

They were definitely surprised. Time for explanations. "She got it with the money we earned a few jobs together. She bought it!"

Apparently, he wasn't good at explaining though. Cause Lucy had to jump in to save his butt. "Ah! They were all safe jobs, mind you."

Like he would ever endanger Asuka. People didn't give him enough credit! Alzack and Bisca looked at the lacrima and then smiled at each other. "This is… the award Bisca and I received on our first job together." Alzack admitted.

Suddenly, it made a whole lot of sense to Natsu why this was such an important thing to all of them. Not just Asuka, but Bisca and Alzack. He kept all kinds of mementos himself, from every job he did. On his wall at home, there was a poster of every job, and he attached notes if there were anything special about those jobs. Like the first quest he did with Lucy, that poster had a special note to remind him, as if he could ever forget about the girl who sat down in the middle of a fight, wanting to read! Lucy was so weird! He saved lots of stuff, related to everything important. The rubble from the time he helped save the master's life, a souvenir from his first S-Class mission… And stuff related to Lucy, too. That stupid Salamander signature from their first meeting, and the maid outfit she wore on their first mission together. He made sure to take extra good care of all this stuff too. How could they give something so precious away? Pawn it like it was… like it was nothing?

"Why was such an important thing in a pawn shop?" He asked hesitantly, more quietly than he'd like to admit. He was almost afraid to hear the answer. What if that sort of feeling faded over time? He didn't like that, really didn't like that idea. He'd never pawn Lucy's maid outfit, not even to buy some fish to eat with Happy!

"Uh, well… A few things happened, you see…" Alzack supplied reluctantly.

"Did you sell it cause you don't need it anymore?" Asuka asked worriedly.

"No, we sold it because we had to." He told her, picking her up and cradling her in his arms. He carefully handled the lacrima at the same time. It was definitely something important to him, then. Natsu felt something loosen up in his chest. He hadn't even realized that something felt tight.

"You'll understand eventually." Bisca told Asuka.

"Now then, let's go home!" Alzack announced.

"Mm!" Asuka agreed. Then, remembering something funny, she laughed and told her parents loudly, "Hey, by the way, Natsu and Happy kissed today!"

Her parents laughed in return. "Ahaha! They sure do get along well!"

Happy and Natsu looked ill at the thought. Lucy laughed and Natsu looked at her. She was at fault for this. But then again… Before he kissed Happy, he'd kissed Lucy. He might have only meant to kiss one, but he'd kissed both his best friends today. And he was kinda curious what would happen if he kissed one of them again.

…Not Happy though. Definitely not happy. He was done with fishy cat lips. He didn't need to feel those again for the rest of his life.

Still laughing, and unaware of the thoughts behind his gaze, Lucy turned to leave as well. "Goodnight! You guys get home safe, okay? Happy! Natsu!"

"Aye…" Happy replied reluctantly, still upset about the reminder of a kiss.

"Happy." Natsu said as he watched Lucy leave, walking happily away and humming to herself.

"Aye…"

"You know… Lucy's at fault for this."

The blue cat got a sneaky grin. "Aye."

"And we need to pay her back for earlier."

"Aye!"

"So what do you say we crash at her apartment tonight and draw on her face while she's sleeping?"

"Aye aye, sir!" Happy shouted cheerfully, the pain of losing his first kiss to Natsu temporarily forgotten.

And maybe, just maybe, while she was sleeping, he could give her another kiss on the cheek, Natsu thought to himself.