"Lucy, are you okay?" Natsu's words brought her mind back to reality. She looked up at him, finding him staring at her with a worried expression plastered upon his face.

"Yes.." She said, but his expression didn't change.

"What's in your mind?" He asked, sitting besides her. She looked at him and forced a small smile.

"Nothing, really." she said and he nodded. He turned around to shout at Gray for stripping in front of everyone again. She giggled slightly and lost her attention again, falling in her own forest of thoughts.

"After your mother gave me to you, I was disappointed. She was so strong, but you…" Aquarius words echoed in her head. It was certain she loved her spirits and had learned not to take what Aquarius said seriously, but this time she knew it was true. She was nothing compared to her mother and nothing compared to her teammates.

She glanced at Erza who was separating a half naked Gray from a furious Natsu. Erza was her idol. She had always been admiring her for the way she dealt with problems, had no fears and of course, was so strong.

Deep in though, she walked to the mission board, searching for a new job. Her eyes fell on one with the title "Missing Precious Magic Stones" and she smiled. It didn't sound difficult, nor dangerous. Exactly what she needed to start off her training. The training that would make her become a lot stronger and independent. She couldn't rely on Natsu or anyone anymore. She had to fight in order to protect herself and others, like she did when she summoned the Spirit King, though she would never break another key of hers.

Mirajane eyed her, confused.

"Aren't you going to go with Natsu on this mission?" She asked, stamping the paper Lucy had given her.

"No, I should start working on my own…" She answered and quickly moved out of the guild, praying she would exit unnoticed.

Luckily, nobody saw her and after walking for a good time of fifteen minutes, she was finally outside of her small apartment.

She opened the door and turned on the lights, finding a very familiar pink haired boy looking at her while sitting on her couch. She sighed, used to his usual visits.

"How did you get here so fast?" She asked, letting her bag fall on the floor. The boy didn't answer her. He stayed sitting on her couch, watching her intensively. Lucy didn't bother to talk to him again, she was already in a bad mood anyways.

Slowly, she moved to her wardrobe, opening it, picking clothes and placing them on her bed.

"What are you doing?" Natsu finally spoke. His voice sounding cold and distant. Lucy glanced at him and noticed it. He wasn't grinning and being carefree like usual. His playful demeanor had turned into an almost aggressive one.

"I am going on a mission.." She didn't like this, she didn't like Natsu acting so serious.

"With who?" Natsu questioned and she heard him standing up, the sound of his footsteps coming closer and closer. As her attention and gaze was on her wardrobe, she could only assume that Natsu was now behind her.

"Alone." She shrugged and for once again remembered what Aquarius had told her.

"Why?" Natsu asked and she turned around. She felt like she had to apologize for this, that she was abandoning him.

p"Natsu, I need to.." She looked down at her feet, Natsu's gaze being unbearable to look at. /p

".. in order to get stronger?" He voiced her thoughts and she nodded. Natsu scoffed.

"What is this bullishit you're talking about?" She raised her head, turning to look at him. Her lips had parted from the surprise of Natsu's harsh words. He stayed still, arms crossed over his chest, his eyes locked to hers as his eyebrows were furrowed.

Lucy suddenly felt ashamed. She couldn't understand why, but she didn't like talking about being weak or strong with Natsu. Compared to everyone, she was the weakest and Natsu knew it even though he said he believed otherwise.

"I just want to be able to defend myself and everyone.." Her voice coming out lower by the second. Natsu took a step forwards her, minimizing the distance between them. Lucy looked away, as his stare was too intense to bare.

"I am not letting you." He growled. Natsu could become terrifying from times to times. However, he had never acted so aggressively and scary towards her.

"Oh, come on.." She rolled her eyes, assuming he wouldn't mean what he had just said. She turned our to continue picking her clothes, but a burning feeling on her wrist made her stop. She looked at Natsu who was gripping her wrist as tight as not to burn her, but still in a death grip.

"Natsu, let me go, it hurts." She tried to yank his hand away, but the Salamander didn't budge. She looked up at him and then noticed that he was too serious, too serious to take this lightly and it almost scared her. The fact that he was not talking and only staring at her made her heart pounding faster in fear and agony. She knew he was unpredictable, but she never had to deal with it in such way.

He pulled her closer and as a instinctive reaction she tried to back away. Unfortunately, he was too strong. With the second time he pulled her to him, his grip disappeared and one arm was placed on her waist and the other on her head. His embrace was so warm she almost forgot how weird he was acting all of the sudden.

"N-Natsu?"

"I don't care if you think you are weak." His hot breath tickled her ear. She was standing still, feeling like one wrong move and he would leave, the last thing she wanted now.

"..cause I know you are not." Natsu continued whispering and tears started forming on the corners of her eyes.

"..and most importantly, I cannot let you go alone.. cause if something happens to you.." He stopped and by this time, Lucy's heart felt like it would jump out of her body.

"..I won't have a reason to fight again…" He said and before she had time to process what she had just heard, Natsu pressed his lips against hers.

The first thing Lucy felt was a small burn on her lips, but soon her body adjusted to the feeling as she started participating to the kiss. She was surprised that Natsu was so gentle and ,damn, so good at this. He sometimes seemed too dense to even understand what this is.

He had matured, though. The way he was acting, thinking and even fighting showed that he had certainly matured. However, she never imagined he would do something like that.

He pulled away, panting softly while resting his forehead on hers. His eyes being closed.

"D-Do you get it now?" His voice was raspy and he slowly opened his eyes, locking them with hers immediately. Lucy didn't answer, she just waited. She waited for him to do it again, the thing she has been dreaming to happen between those two.

She had always been denying having feelings for Natsu, but she could tell that the way he made her feel was not only because of their frienship.

Not controlling her body, her hands reached the back of his neck, pulling him towards her.

Their second kiss was a bit 's hands travelled across her body and stopped on her hips. Their mouths battled each other, making them panting heavily. They didn't stop, though. Natsu grabbed her thighs and lifted her up, walking to the bed, lying her down. He was eager and lust was consuming his whole body.

"We need to stop.." He whispered, before kissing her ear. Lucy's eyes were closed. As much as she wanted to look at him, the pleasure of his touch alone was enough.

"N-No!" She gasped when Natsu's lips connected with her neck.

Natsu stopped and looked at her. Her cheeks were a bright red color and her eyes pleading. His heart beat so fast and he felt the need to feel her right now, but he knew he should't, not yet.

"We can't. I.." He stopped to take a breath. "I won't be able to control myself with you.." He finished his sentence and backed away from her, lying next to her on the bed, taking her hand in his.

Lucy didn't understand what he meant with this. However, she felt happy. Happy that Natsu actually felt something more for her.. happy that her love wasn't one sided.

"Now.." Natsu broke the silence. "Let's go on that mission!" He flashed his famous grin, making her smile along.

If being weak meant Natsu would stay by her side forever, as selfish as it sounds, she wouldn't mind, as long as she knew he would be safe…