Shock ripped through him like a bullet when he saw her again, leaning against the wall of the pub and fiddling with the strap of her top. She looked bored and lost, like she was waiting for something. He allowed himself a minute to stare at her; he hadn't seen her in weeks. She was dressed in a simple tank top and mini skirt, her long blonde hair hanging in a ponytail down her back, the tip resting just above the curve of her waist.
After his brief inspection, he scanned the crowd instinctively. It had become a habit that made Don call him paranoid, but it didn't hurt. It kept the more dangerous fights from injuring any customers, and brought in revenue for the pub instead of attracting outside attention. But as he scanned the crowd, he noticed two of the shadier regulars, Joel and Marcus, eyeing the girl like a piece of meat. 'Oh hell no,' he thought.
He strolled up next to her and leaned on the wall, silent on his feet. It was one of the first techniques he'd been taught as a fighter. "Listen, Salamander. If they hear you move, it's over. Stay low, stay quiet, and strike first." He shook his head to quiet the voice, before he started hearing all the other ones, too. Instead, he fixed a glare on the two older men, who were still staring at the girl with drunken lust. But when they noticed him, their eyes lost their sheen. It seemed they weren't so drunk as to realize that they couldn't beat him two-on-one if they were sober and he had downed a bottle of Scotch from the top shelf. They dropped their beers on the table and bolted into the crowd, who were watching the match that would determine the Salamander's next opponent.
He turned his eyes to look at the girl, who was watching the match with blatant disinterest and a tinge of concern. He followed her eyes to the kid in the ring, his bright green hair stark against the browns of the pub. He appeared to be losing, but the look in his eyes was too bright for Natsu to think it was from a lack of skill. His opponent, on the other hand, looked constipated with the amount of effort he was giving the fight. That three second glance was all it took for Natsu to figure out who would win.
"That guy sucks," Natsu decided, out loud. He smiled cheekily when the girl jumped. She spun to glare at him so fast he was impressed she didn't fall over from her momentum. She knocked her tiny fist against his shoulder, but Natsu barely felt it. His lips twitched as he tried not to laugh, eyeing the fist resting on his bicep. "So do you."
Her lips puckered in a childish pout before turning back to the ring. They both watched as the kid got hit in every place he left open. Natsu was impressed; the kid was drawing his opponent almost too easily. The girl, however, didn't notice. "You're right about that guy, at least. He can't land a single hit." Natsu raised an eyebrow, chuckling lowly. Just how unobservant was this girl? She raised her eyebrow at his amusement.
"No, not the kid," Natsu clarified, and she felt her piercing eyes without even looking back. He had figured her out somewhat, and she didn't seem to believe anything without proof. So he cut off her question by pointing to the ring, just as the kid threw his opponent out of the ring. He heard the girl's disbelieving question cut off as the cheers swelled at the fight's end. He heard her mumble something about high pain tolerance under her breath, and he laughed at the look on her face. He had never met someone like her. She was arrogant and stuck up, yet she was clueless where he was experienced. She looked beyond perplexed at the underdog victory.
"No way." He addressed her validation of the victory. For some reason he couldn't comprehend, he needed her to understand this. To understand him. This wasn't just some delinquent hobby. "I think you punched me harder than that guy could've, and you're pretty weak." She pouted again, but he only laughed. Teasing her was fun, and he liked making her exasperated.
The referee cut off any further conversation as he called out, "Alright folks! Here's the fight you've all been drinking for!" Whoops and drunken laughter filled the air. "It's the punk vs. the one, the only…Salamander!"
It was like a switch had been activated. His heart rate sped up, and he felt his blood racing through every vein. He could feel his pulse in his fingertips, and felt every nerve ending ignite in anticipation. Natsu craved adreanline like the patrons craved alcohol, and this was the only high he could find. This rushing feeling, it was how the Salamander was born. Every punch fueled the fire he had inside, a fire that could only be extinguished by motion. He cracked his knuckles excitedly, feeling the Salamander rear his ugly head—
A hand on his arm stopped him in his tracks. He turned his head to see the blonde holding him back, looking slightly surprised herself. Her eyes were wide, and she was looking at him with bewilderment. He held her gaze as he waited for her to say whatever she wanted to, like "Good luck" or something.
"You can't seriously be thinking of going out there." Her voice was higher than it had been a minute ago. "That guy crushed his wrist in one go! You'll get hurt!"
Natsu felt his brain short circuit at her words. 'Hurt?' It almost made him want to laugh at her. Sure, he got bruised and cut pretty bad sometimes, but he'd never been hurt. This kid might be good, but the Salamander was the best fighter anyone had seen in the last ten years. No one doubted his ability in a fight. Fighting was natural for him, like breathing was for others.
'But she doesn't know that.' She knew nothing about him, other than that that kid broke someone's wrist and now Natsu was going to fight him. And Natsu didn't fight very well. The Salamander did. And no one had ever worried about the Salamander. It was a foreign concept to him. The math didn't add up for Natsu, but Lucy didn't have all the facts.
His brain was starting to hurt with all of the thinking, so he gently pried her fingers off his arm. He saw the panic floating in her brown eyes, but he tried to look unassuming. Gentle. It was difficult, to say the least. "I'll be right back." He removed his shirt and tossed it onto the floor before slipping through the ropes with a practiced ease.
He heard the announcer droning on in the background, but he ignored him. He watched the kid opposite him, bouncing up and down like he had gotten his first 30-day sober patch. Natsu rocked on his heels, waiting for the bell. He pushed the blonde girl out of his immediate thoughts, allowing a small promise to show off just a bit for her. To help her understand. Nothing too Salamander, so she wouldn't get scared.
As soon as the bell rang, they both moved. 'He's fast,' he noticed. A fist was flying toward Natsu's jaw at an impressive speed, but the Salamander was faster. He was above the kid before it really registered with the rest of his brain, and he kicked the boy onto the floor. The punched from the previous fight seemed to be taking their effect after all, because the kid was swaying slightly after just one kick. 'Or maybe he's just shit,' Natsu thought, a bit disappointed. He'd been hoping for a workout.
The fight dragged on after the high wore off. The kid turned out to actually be shit, and couldn't really do any damage. Some of the drunks were booing, but neither fighter paid them much attention. Natsu had learned a long time ago that they were impossible to please. So he fought to make himself happy. He loved when his brain took the backseat, and his body overtook his existence. He wasn't infamous, he wasn't a horror story to keep people in line. He was the Salamander in his purest form: a manic blur of motion, laughing like a psychopath. He was focused, powerful—
Without his consent, his vision flitted to where the girl was. He cursed at his lapse in concentration, until he saw that she was watching with wide eyes and clutching his T-shirt like it was a lifeline. 'She looks…scared.' Was she scared of him?
That thought brought his humanity back, repressing the Salamander. It was an odd sensation, as he never really came back until the final bell rang. He sighed and bent to grab the kid, who was laying face down on the mat. 'Oh well, it wasn't going to change the outcome anyways,' he thought, making peace with the fight's early end. He dangled the kid over the ring, eyeing his defeated opponent.
Just in time to see a look of concentration on his face.
'Yes,' he thought, and blocked the foot arcing toward his face. At least the fight would end with a bang. He felt it make contact with his forearm, and grimaced at the pain. He launched the kid out and into the wall at the far end of the pub.
He glowed as the cheers reached their climax, his pride swelling at the noise, but not as much as normal. Ignoring the oddity, he ducked out of the ring and resumed his previous position against the wall by the girl. She had a death grip on his shirt, but he managed to extract it and put it on by the time she regained her conversation skills. She looked stunned.
"What's wrong?" he asked. Had he gone too far? Was she scared of him now? Figured out what the Salamander really was?
She smiled thinly, and shook her head. "Sorry. I've never seen anything like that." She paused. "You guys…That was amazing." She looked like she had more to say on the topic, but she ultimately stayed quiet.
Natsu figured that he had probably overdone it, but tried to make her feel at ease. He beamed at her. "Thanks!"
For the rest of her time there, he told her about different things he had learned over the years from different people. She listened and laughed at certain points, and Natsu discovered that he really liked talking to her. 'What if it was like this all the time?' he wondered.
