Massive thanks to Lolibeagle, my beta reader for this story, for checking this and making sure everything is where it should be.

Disclaimers: Fairy Tail and the characters are owned by Hiro Mashima. The only thing I own is this story based on Mashima's work.

The cover art is owned by the amazing Bludy-chu (Deviant Art, Twitter, Tumblr) who was kind enough to give me permission to use her beautiful artwork as a cover.

The self-defense principles, skills and techniques that I describe in this story are used for entertainment purposes only. Please do not try any of this. If you are interested in self-defense training, please seek out formal classes. I will be drawing on Krav Maga for this story. I won't use it exactly, but it's the style I know so that's what I'll draw from.


A/N: Hi! I just wanted to say sorry if I confused anyone in the beginning of the last chapter. I was trying something new and it seems I failed. I wasn't trying to describe 5 girls in the beginning. I was trying to show the world the girls live in. I wanted to show that world from the inside in a funny way that also shows its superficiality. The way gossip uses differences to exclude, snub and have fun; how it defines others in small spaces. That description was supposed to show the shallow, self-righteous world that Natsu rejects (and uses!). But it was also supposed to suggest that Natsu might not be as different from that group of girls as we might see at first glance. We just need to focus on the similarities that bind, not the differences that separate – that's the starting point of the story! *BOWS* Sorry I failed so massively to get it across. But I've learnt something from the mistake, so thanks so much for letting me know! I hope you enjoy this chapter!


Chapter 2: Birth (Part 2)

Lucy walked up to Natsu's door with resilience and determination. The rude, annoying brat didn't come to school that day. Not that Lucy was surprised. But she wasn't about to give up that easily. She would get him to say yes. Whatever it took. Being the daughter of Jude Heartfilia did have its perks, and accessing people's 'personal' information was far from difficult for her.

She had to admit, though, she was surprised by where he lived. Really, an old, quaint, English-styled cottage at the edge of the woods didn't seem to match the hothead at all.

She'd also expected silence and stillness when she got to the door, something suited to his cold, wry, reclusive persona, so the loud, rumbling laughter and enthusiastic shouting that she heard inside caught her off-guard.

This is new, she thought as she knocked on the door, I can't imagine him laughing and having fun like a normal person.

"Finally Laxus is here with the pizzas," Lucy heard a rough, muffled voice say from somewhere behind the heavy wooden doors.

"Since when do you knock? Come on Laxus! We're in the living room," he heard Natsu yell.

Lucy thought about it for half a second before opening the door.

Whoa! Now this I can imagine, she said to herself once she stepped into the floor-to-ceiling mess that was the interior of Natsu's house.

From somewhere within the rubble a small cat crept out and rubbed against her legs. Lucy looked down and picked the friendly little creature up and scratched him under his neck. He purred happily in her hands, rubbing and pressing his face affectionately into them.

You're so adorable, Lucy squealed mentally, scratching the little guy as she followed the voices to the living room where Natsu and some scary-looking, dark-haired dude with piercings everywhere were playing a videogame.

The guy looked up at her standing in the doorway and nudged Natsu pointedly, nodding in her direction.

Natsu looked up at her, surprise clouding his features briefly. He sighed before going back to his game.

"I thought I got rid of you yesterday princess," he said dryly, aiming his character's arrow at the tiny, almost indiscernible slit between the enemy's helmet and his body armor. Lucy waited for Natsu to release the arrow and miss his target before responding.

She'd played this game before. She knew the heavily armored guy, the last in the wave of enemies Natsu had to face, would come looking for him after that shot. Natsu's character needed to stay hidden until the enemy gave up. That would give her the chance she needed. Unless Natsu wanted to re-play the entire mission, he really wouldn't be going anywhere.

Lucy walked up to the sofa and gestured to piercy.

"Hi, I'm Lucy" she said pleasantly, ignoring Natsu for the moment. Piercy grunted a barely audible "Gajeel", before getting up and heading in the direction of the horror that passed for a kitchen in that house.

"You know, I'm pretty sure this is illegal" Natsu grumbled eventually, still staring at the heavily armored guy on the TV screen walking around muttering trash while the hero crouched safely in the bushes right beside him.

"You invited me in," Lucy tossed back.

"No. I invited Laxus in" Natsu clarified. "Where the hell is that guy with the pizzas anyway?" he muttered as an afterthought.

"Laxus? Me? You said 'come on', the person at the door complied. It'd hold up in any court. I'm sure of it. But" Lucy continued slyly, a touch of playful mischief tinting her voice, "if you want to play hardball, I could call our lawyers right now and ask them."

It was just a ghost of a sound, a faint tease, but it was enough to reawaken that strange, electrifying feeling the girl had sparked in Natsu the day before.

Natsu looked up and eyed the feline resting comfortably in the blonde's pale, slender arms.

"Traitor!" he hissed at the cat, before looking at Lucy directly. "What are you doing here princess? I already told you I won't train you."

"Train you?" Gajeel repeated as he came back into the room, tall beer bottles in hand. "You want to learn martial arts?" he asked scanning her up and down, then up again, slowly this time, his eyes floating over her curvaceous legs, full hips, and small waist, eventually landing comfortably on the girl's hefty, pleasing chest.

I do have a face you know! Lucy thought hotly, conveniently forgetting her shameless, candy-coated stare-fest with Natsu's body just the day before.

It was only when a faint "gee hee" escaped the pincushion's lips that Lucy decided that she'd had enough. Before she could deck him though, Natsu grabbed Gajeel's arm and forced him back on the sofa next to him.

"Down boy!" he dropped casually before turning back to his game. "And the answer is still no" he threw to Lucy as he leveled his arrow for the next shot.

Now Lucy couldn't stand it anymore. This was just downright ridiculous!

She quickly put the cat on Natsu's lap and snatched the controller from him before he could draw his arrow. Natsu didn't take it from her. Her long, delicate fingers moving expertly over the buttons caught his attention and swayed his interest. He folded his arms and leaned back on the soft, leather sofa. He allowed his eyes to stray up to the girl's face, taking in her finely-spun, concentrated profile.

This time, in the relative safety of his house, he allowed himself to admit it.

She really is very pretty.

A loud boom followed by the 'new trophy received' sound effect snapped Natsu back to reality. He turned to the television and saw the game saving.

He felt the controller land next to him and looked over to Gajeel who was just staring at the screen.

Now, to those who didn't know him, pincushion was just gaping. But to those privileged few in the know, those who actually spoke some fragment of 'Gajeelian', Gajeel Redfox was laughing hysterically.

Natsu glanced up at Lucy who was wearing a smug, satisfied smirk. Before he could make the wry comment that Lucy knew was coming, he was interrupted by a voice from the doorway.

"Did blondie there just use an RPG launcher to take down a man?"

Lucy turned and saw an older blond guy walking into the room. His arms were filled with pizza boxes.

That's probably Laxus, Lucy thought eyeing him gratefully. He was, after all, the reason she got in there.

"Until hothead over here gains some more skills, it's the least painful option. Better than that damn bow and arrow, even I don't have that much patience," Lucy retorted as the guy walked past. He gave her a brief nod as he passed.

"Nice rack," he complimented easily as he made his way to the small coffee table that doubled as an ottoman.

"Thanks" she responded just as nonchalantly. She liked this guy. At least he was polite enough to compliment a lady and not stare at her like she was dessert.

The actual irony of that sentence still wasn't obvious to Lucy.

Natsu only groaned and got up from his seat. Turning, he grabbed Lucy's arm and led her outside.

"Hey! Slow down! Hey! Stop!" she yelled at him as he pulled her along, but Natsu didn't give in.

"You guys are like vultures," he yelled back into the house as he yanked the girl over the threshold and out of the house, securing the door behind them.

Finally, he turned to face her.

"Thanks for coming. It was a real pleasure having you," Natsu said shortly, now consciously feigning irritation with her. Not only was she thick-skinned with him yesterday, but she'd managed to maintain her cool with those two normally corrosive, off-putting dragons inside. And she did launch an explosive rocket at a single man. Sure, he was digital and covered in armor, but still, that's some twisted, aggressive logic. Natsu was beginning to think that maybe Lucy Heartfilia wasn't such a princess after all.

But it wasn't like he was going to admit it openly, much less to her.

"Please don't hurt yourself on your way home," Natsu ordered, shoving her slightly and turning back towards the door.

Now Natsu knew deep down that he really didn't want the spunky blond to leave. Her bold feistiness was, in fact, mildly refreshing to be around, and if she hadn't followed him home like some creepy stalker he might have even gone as far as to call her borderline entertaining. Still, the heaviness that overcame Natsu as he turned his back on the girl that provoked him and irritated him in ways that no one else ever had, was completely unexpected. And when the girl grabbed his arm and yanked him towards her it was impossible for him to deny the overwhelming relief that flooded his body.

He turned to see her looking at him intently, her wide, spirited eyes firm and challenging.

He met her gaze, just as steady and challenging. No way was he going to let some princess beat him in an epic stare down, especially on his front porch.

This time, though, watching her, he allowed his guard to go down. He didn't really know why he let it. His body just dropped it, instinct encouraging him in the direction of the warmth and thrill he felt with this girl when it was down.

"Listen, hothead. I'll pay you, alright?" Lucy said, finally playing her trump card. "And not some petty sum either. We're talking good cash here. Enough to clean this dump up and set yourself up pretty sweet."

Natsu raised an eyebrow, giving in to the intrigue and the wicked temptation to tease her. Whether she gave up training on the first try or after facing a few obstacles didn't seem to matter so much now. She was beginning to convince him that she was at least very serious about trying. She wasn't treating it superficially and that was enough for Natsu.

Stifling back the grin that was just on his lips, Natsu summoned a low, indignant tone.

"You think you can buy me, princess? You think I'm for sale like those other pretty things you own?" Natsu served in the most heated voice he could muster.

"Oh please Dragneel" Lucy shot back, "don't you think for a second that I'd ever classify you with the pretty things I own."

"Oh, so you're admitting that you think you'll own me?"

Lucy closed her mouth with a loud clash of her teeth. He'd definitely surprised her.

In her silence, Natsu charged ahead, "Besides, that's not what it looked like yesterday under the tree. I'd say you were definitely appreciating the goods." Natsu smiled inwardly. He got this.

Lucy's patience burst at that.

That jerk!

"You jerk!" she started, openly yelling now, whether from anger or embarrassment Natsu wasn't sure. With his guard down he wasn't paying too much attention, he was just enjoying the show. "First of all, as long as I'm paying, I do own you, hothead. And secondly, I was not appreciating the goods, I was quality checking them. I had to know if you were the real deal or not. I am investing a lot of effort in this after all. I can't just go on public hearsay."

Natsu couldn't lie, that revelation disappointed him slightly.

"Well, none of it matters anyway because I'm still not helping you," Natsu flung back, his stubbornness and determination to win getting the better of him. "I don't need your money, princess! No one owns me."

Dammit! Lucy scolded herself. Couldn't you just hold yourself back for once? We need this guy!

What do we do now? Right brain asked.

I have no idea. We should smooth this situation over, left brain answered.

How? There's no way I'm apologizing. He insinuated that I was checking him out! Right brain said stubbornly.

You were checking him out, left brain reasoned.

No I was ju-

Don't even try to defend yourself, left brain interrupted. I tried to stop you but you just did what you wanted anyway.

"Would you guys just shut up for a minute and let me think?" Lucy shouted holding her head in her hands.

Natsu was looking on, amusement clear on his face. The verdict was in: Lucy Heartfilia was definitely no princess.

"If you're going to lose it, please don't do it on my porch" Natsu deadpanned, not taking his eyes off her.

Lucy raised her eyes to look at him. Even with his guard down Natsu knew that look. He'd seen it many, many times in his opponents, right before he won.

Surrender.

"I'm sor-" Lucy started before Natsu interrupted her.

"I don't want to hear it!" Natsu said honestly.

"Bu-"

"Shh!" Natsu barked aggressively, silencing her. "I'm going to ask you what you wanted me to ask you yesterday before I blew you off. Now I want the truth. I'd be able to tell if you're lying. Got that?"

Lucy nodded obediently. She was glad that he was willing to at least listen to her now.

"Why do you want to learn self-defense?"

There was a long pause while Lucy formulated her answer. With his guard now back up Natsu could tell that she was uncomfortable with the topic.

"I- I can't tell you," Lucy answered plainly.

Natsu could feel the storm build up in him. He clenched his fists and took a deep breath.

This girl is impossible!

"Listen princess, you're really not giving me any reason to help you out here" Natsu reasoned.

"I know," Lucy said frankly, nervously meeting his dark eyes with her warm chocolate ones. "But you'll just have to trust me. I know I haven't given you any reason to, but I really can't tell you. But I am serious and I will stick to everything I said yesterday. I'll listen. I promise. Please."

For the first time, Natsu observed her closely.

He noticed the invisible but heavy weight that pressed down her on her eyelids, pushing them down slightly. The brown eyes that were sparkling and enflamed just moments before had lost all their color and life. He watched as her gaze anxiously moved to meet his and then just as quickly pulled away to focus on something behind him. He noted her rapidly clenching and unclenching jaw and accelerated breathing, almost like small gasps. Moving down, he saw that her hands were now wrapped protectively around her body while her fingers dug slightly into her pale white arms. Her right foot was on top of her left one and was bouncing on it erratically. A nervous habit, he deduced.

She's unconsciously making herself smaller. Protecting herself from something.

When he added all that to the shaky, broken tone she used when she spoke to him, Natsu realized that his question had triggered her fear response.

Shit! Natsu scolded himself. Why didn't I notice it before? This girl's in trouble. Real trouble. Not the regular teenage girl type trouble. Adult trouble. Dangerous trouble. That would explain why her dad can't find out about this.

Lucy watched as Natsu reflected on her words. She saw his solid expression suddenly turn grave. She watched as he played different ideas over in his head, none of which seemed to make him the least bit happy. She realized then that he really didn't have any reason to help her. He wouldn't take her money and she couldn't let him in on what was going on. This really was hopeless.

"I see. I get it now" she said softly, dejectedly. "I'm sorry for bothering you, Natsu. I really am. I was being really presumptuous. I was just so sure you'd help. I don't know why, but I just knew it. I just believed you would. I'm sorry."

With that, she turned on her heels and ran off in the direction of town, frantic thoughts of what she would do next running through her mind.

Before she got off the property though, two massive arms clamped hard around her and pulled her back, wrapping her tightly against a warm, hard body.

Lucy screamed and struggled furiously against the massive, powerful arms. She wasn't going to let this happen. Not again.

She lifted her leg and slammed her heel down hard on her assailant's foot. She heard the guy let out a pained scream before he loosened his grip on her. She drew her hand up gathering as much force and momentum as she could and rammed her elbow hard into his stomach. She heard him cough loudly before he let her go, giving her the opportunity to escape.

She ran hard, but it wasn't long before he was behind her again. He grabbed her arm, but this time he called her name.

"Lucy!"

She stopped struggling as she heard the familiar voice and turned to see Natsu holding onto her arm, a pained look on his face.

"Shoot! Natsu! I'm so sorry" she exclaimed, realization suddenly hitting her. "Does it hurt a lot?" she asked touching his stomach lightly.

Now, Lucy was sorry. She was. But, even though she was sorry, and even though she was still a bit shaken from the whole startling ordeal, her body wouldn't let her deny the wonderful feeling beneath her fingers. Human instinct is a weird thing like that: it could be a funny mixture of sour, sweet and inappropriate at the same time. She allowed her fingers to linger lightly on his stomach taking in the wonderful warm feeling growing inside her at the touch, and fighting the terrible urge to press her fingers even deeper into his shirt.

Why do I feel so safe here? She wondered, allowing her mind to wander back a few seconds to when she was in his arms. It was crushing and terrifying at the time, but now that she knew it was Natsu, her memory refused to categorize the hold as anything but sheltered, protective, secure.

"N- no, it doesn't hurt," Natsu answered, looking away from her, trying hard not to look down at the hand still resting on his stomach. The boy had never felt a softer touch in his life. In fact, nothing he had ever felt had ever come close to such a touch before. But still, as light as it was, it shook him as if he had been punched or slapped by some enormous hand. No. That's not true. Natsu would have preferred if it had been a hit, because that he knew how to deal with. This...this had set him immeasurably off-balance. It was like a hit, but it wasn't anything like a hit at all.

"You just caught me off-guard, that's all."

Lucy appeared shaken by that and allowed her hand to fall.

"Oh. I'm still sorry" Lucy answered, distracted.

He still caught me.

Natsu eyed her carefully. He knew what she was thinking.

"You surprised me," he told her, pulling himself together. Needless to say, he was more than a little relieved to move the situation over to solid ground. "That's good. People won't expect that from you. The element of surprise is important and it can determine the outcome of a fight."

He paused as she raised her uncertain eyes to meet his.

"But you've got to follow through."

He sighed loudly, resignedly. He took her slim arms firmly in his hands and looked down at her.

"These" he said shaking her arms emphatically, "these are your weapons, your arms and your legs. Defend, attack to disable, and then you run."

There was a long silence as Lucy took in this new information. When she looked up at Natsu again, he continued, explaining his statement.

"You hit me pretty hard just now and you managed to distract me, but I wasn't disabled. I can still come after you. And now I'm pissed. And you're in even deeper trouble because you showed me your back; you're now more at risk because you've got no defenses. You can't see your opponent and you can't use your weapons easily. Plus, the guy knows you're a pain in the ass now so he's more on guard with you. Keep attacking, don't give your assailant the chance to regroup and attack you again. Keep moving and attacking. Be quick. Keep distracting and confusing him with your attacks until you get an opportunity to deliver a disabling blow."

Natsu noticed Lucy was staring at him with wide eyes.

"What?"

"That doesn't sound very...I don't know...um...zen?"

"That's not advice to win a martial arts tournament. I'm telling you what you need to know to survive a real street fight. Tournaments have rules, you can plan. Real life is unexpected and doesn't work with rules."

Natsu raised his hands and touched her temples lightly, more gently than he'd anticipated he would. "It's all already up here." He let his fingers slide down to her exposed chest and tapped it with his index and middle fingers, "and in here."

He noticed her heartbeat speed up and drum hard against his fingers as they rested there. He couldn't deny that his was racing just a bit too.

Realizing that he may have crossed a line, Natsu withdrew his hand and refocused on the issue.

"A lot of the techniques I'll show you use the instinctive ways our bodies respond to external threats. We've got generations of knowledge locked up in our genes. We just have to access them and train our bodies and minds to use them to act in unexpected situations. With the right training and discipline all of these things become more natural for us."

There was a long pause while Lucy took in all of this.

"So you will help me?" she asked slowly, careful not to anger him by seeming presumptuous again.

Natsu laughed openly this time. He thought it was pretty obvious by now.

"Yes. Though, based on before, it seems you already have the right instincts for this."

I'm not really sure I want to know why, Natsu thought, new-found respect and burning affection for the girl mingling inside him.

"We'll build on that wild instinct of yours; refine and hone it into tools and skills you can draw on in different situations to protect yourself."

Lucy was looking at him with grateful eyes and Natsu felt a sudden urge to comfort the girl.

"Don't worry, princess," he said in response, "you don't have to pay me. I refuse to be owned by anyone, especially an arrogant, irritating little rich girl like you."

Lucy's jaws dropped as the sinister, abrasive hothead returned.

Was that a growl? Natsu wondered as he heard the low, rumbling sound she emitted. He raised an eyebrow. This is going to be very interesting indeed.

"I'm just interested in that natural instinct of yours" he provoked, "I've never seen it before. I'd like to be the one who gets to shape it."

"Oh, you really are a jerk!" Lucy spat at him, hitting him hard across his arm.

"No, no." Natsu corrected pointedly. "It's: 'oh, you really are a jerk, sensei.'"

"Argh!" Lucy growled, openly this time, "yes, sorry about that, sensei," Lucy said through gritted teeth. "Thank you very much for offering your kind assistance. It is very gratefully received." With that Lucy turned, ready to storm off.

"Oh princess?" Natsu called cheekily after her.

Lucy huffed and turned around.

"Yes?"

Dammit! I can't believe he got me to respond to that! Lucy fumed internally.

"Uh uh," Natsu reprimanded.

Lucy took a deep, frustrated breath.

"Yes, sensei?" she forced out reluctantly.

"Tomorrow, after school, right here. Bring snacks, and meat...and some fish for Happy. He likes fish."

"Happy?"

"The cat."

"Riight," Lucy concluded sarcastically as she turned and resumed her trek home, stopping once to look back at Natsu, traces of a warm, thankful smile gracing her lips.

"See you then, princess" Natsu whispered to her retreating back.

"Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you."


A/N In case anyone wants to know, Natsu and Gajeel were playing Far Cry 3 (incidentally not rated T).

Unguarded is spawning: Demontailedfox released one of his/her unfinished stories as an OVA to this story, sort of what Natsu's life might have been like up to the events in Unguarded. Some details aren't the same, but there are connections and I think it's really good, the language and writing style is beautiful IMO, so check it out if you've got time. It's called 'Unguarded - The personality of Natsu Dragneel'.

Unguarded: Okay! Wow. This story is doing so much better than I thought it would. I'm really happy you guys are enjoying it, because I'm having such a good time writing it - and fun alone is only half the fun! Please leave a review and let me know what you thought of this chapter.

Oh, and the videogame scene is also an allegory. Did you notice it? The answer lies with LaLu (^_-) Have fun with it! And if you feel brave, let me know what you think. Till the next update! Bye! ^^