Chapter Four

"This is not training. This is not even remotely close to training."

If looks could kill, Natsu would have been a petrified corpse on the ground, too far gone by the time he would even realize he died. Though, no matter how hard she glared at him, he always remained unfazed. In spite of her annoyance, the corners of her lips twitched up with the threat of a smile - but she would not dare succumb to it.

Apparently Levy had been made aware of their training session, because before they left the school she was suddenly by Lucy's side, offering a change of clothes. Lucy accepted them gratefully, reluctant to train in her school uniform. Before she could tell Natsu that she was going to change, he was already making a beeline for the boys' locker rooms, so Lucy turned and made her way towards the girls'.

That had been roughly thirty minutes prior. At the present time they stood before what appeared to be an indoor playground: multiples slides, small shelters (that were labeled TREE HOUSE, but Lucy was sure that there was not a single tree inside), monkey bars, swings. The place seemed like a child's wonderland-so the question as to why nobody was there was roused in her mind.

"No one really comes around here anymore," Natsu beamed, as if reading her thoughts. "The owner still lets me use it whenever I want, though."

"Oh. I see." Lucy nodded.

Twenty minutes later she was clinging to the monkey bars, her palms burning and her toes unable to even graze the ground. Her cheeks puffed out and she narrowed her eyes at Natsu, who seemed to have no trouble hanging on. They had been at it for over ten minutes and he was holding on with just one arm. Not fair. "How long do I have to do this?" she huffed, and he just shot her a grin.

"As long as you can!" was his response.

"Okay," she sighed, finding it easier to just accept everything he says rather than challenging it. Then again, "Hey, when was it ever decided that I was gonna be your partner?"

"When I signed us up for the two-on-two matches for the competition on Friday," he said in a 'duh' tone, rolling his eyes.

Her eye twitched at that because she was really asking when she decided, but she brushed it off. "Why me?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you pick me? You barely know me and I'm clearly not the best fighter," Lucy pointed out. She wasn't looking for pity or trying to put herself down. She was stating the facts. Out of almost everyone in the club, she was the least experienced, having just joined a few days before, so it made no sense for one of their best fighters to want to partner with one of their… not-so-best.

"Because you're nice," he shrugged, and Lucy's grip slackened entirely before she fell right onto her rear. Her cheeks were tinged with the slightest shade of pink as she gawked up at him. That was his reason?

"'Nice' isn't going to win a fight." Her words came out sharp and quick, but not harsh. As flustered as she was, it was hard for her to speak normally.

He glanced down at her, his fingers still loosely wrapped around the metal bar and his knees still bent. Then he grinned. "I know." A pause. "The two-on-two matches are different than the one-on-ones. There's a big square mat, about twenty feet on each side. If you get pushed off of the mat, you're out. But it's about teamwork! And Erza told me I need to pick a teammate this time who I get along with…" He almost pouted at the mention of the 'she-devil,' as he liked to call her. "Gray and I tried to team up last time, but that snowflake didn't understand the concept of a team!"

Lucy stared at him. She knew what actually happened, judging by his facial expressions and his general behavior around the aforementioned 'snowflake'. Gray and I tried to team up last time, but we ended up fighting each other more than our opponents.

"So we're a team now, alright?" Natsu was off the monkey bars, extending a hand out to her like he did the night she joined the club.

His smile was contagious. She soon found her lips blossoming into a huge grin and she accepted his assistance. He help her stand before she nodded giving him a thumbs up. "You got it!"

"Alright, so I already know you've got a wicked right hook," he began, almost mocking. Confusion lit up her face for a moment before her cheeks reddened. She almost forgot that she had punched him the first time they spoke. "What else can you do?"

"I'm better with my feet than my hands," she admitted, wringing her fingers together behind her.

"Then we'll start working on your hands! In these fights, anything goes, so you'll need to be able to use your hands if legs are trapped."

"Okay."

It was only five minutes later that she was knocked onto her butt again, fuming. Natsu could envision steam coming out of her ears and he laughed. "You need to remember to be on the defensive, too, Luigi." He wasn't anticipating her foot sweeping at his legs, knocking him clean onto his butt.

"It's Lucy." She was scowling, arms crossed and looking away from him.

He knew her name.

"Okay, let's go again." Natsu sounded excited to beat her again, but she was nowhere near thrilled to get back up. She examined him with a watchful eye; his mop of pink hair was sticking out in all directions, a white scarf tied around his head only drawing more attention to the area. He had a permanent smirk on his lips whenever he wasn't grinning and he had this childish air about it. It was frustrating yet wondersome at the same time.

Ignoring the immense irritation she felt (probably because she was fighting on of Fairy Tail's best fighters, who she kept losing to even though he was going easy on her), she straightened herself up, sliding easily into a fighting stance - but then he was by her side, one hand on her stomach and one hand on her forearm.

"EH?" Before he could even speak, Lucy launched her fist into his face, forcing him onto the ground a short couple of feet away from her. "Haven't you ever heard of personal space?"

"I don't see what the problem was," he grumbled, rubbing his cheek where she had hit him. Truthfully, it had been one of her hardest punches in some time, so she was only mildly surprised to see the large red mark coloring his skin. "I was just tryin' to help."

"You were touching me without permission!"

"You get touched without permission in a fight!"

"Not like that!"

"I was just gonna show you how to move!"

"Give me some warning next time, idiot!"

"You're not nice at all! I take it back!"

"Boo-hoo!"

They turned away from each other, arms crossed and pouting like children. Tension seeped into the air and they stayed like that for a few minutes.

Lucy glanced over her shoulder, eyeing his back. "What were you gonna show me?" she mumbled, face still hot with anger.

He perked up, mimicking her casual look over the shoulder before meeting her eyes and jumping to his feet. She stood as well, wary brown hues following him as he made his way to her. The red blotch on his face had turned a gruesome blue, but he didn't seem to mind. He's probably used to it.

Every muscle in her body seemed to tense when he grabbed her arm again, this time more cautiously - she could see him waiting to jump back if a pale fist came soaring his way. "Relax, Lucy!" he almost laughed.

"Easier said than done," she snorted, stifling her voice when his hand was once again placed on her stomach. He seemed oblivious to the intimacy of such a touch, so she did her best to ignore it as well.

"Don't pull your fist back before you punch. The people you're going up against look for things like that." He paused, slowly guiding her arm forward until it stuck out in a straight line. "Try to punch in a without an arch. Use your hips for movement instead and tighten the muscles in your belly. Then aim for where it hurts the most! Now try it on me but in slow-mo!"

He relinquished his touch and she felt like she could breathe again. She did as told, slowly outstretching her arm and using her hips as rotation. To her amusement (not really, she was rather bothered by the fact that she continuously lost), his hand rose in slow motion, forearm taking the 'hit' and his arm doing the same thing hers did - so she mimicked his action, blocking the punch and sending its course askew.

The pair trained for a few more hours. Natsu would demonstrate different moves for her, both offensive and defensive, and then tell her to use them when she felt right. Most of the time, he eventually knocked her to the ground, but kept praising her every time he recognized a technique.

By the time they wrapped things up, both of them had a few bumps and bruises, but Lucy only cringed at the sight of the dark bruise on his face. She felt kind of bad, but he did touch her without her permission.

"I can give you a ride home and then we can meet up at the club hall afterwards," she offered, watching in amusement as his complexion shifted from tan to a sickly shade of green. The entire time he had been in the car, the only sounds emitting from him were moans and groans, and occasionally he would try to throw himself out through the window. "Or you can walk."

"I'll walk," he said bluntly, marching towards the door. She caught him by his ear. "Lucyyyy."

"Stop whining, you big baby." Her eyes rolled. "Don't you take medicine for your motion sickness?"

Face still green, he shook his head. "No."

"I might have some at my house. I'll bring it to you at the hall. For now, just deal with it."

It was only forty-five minutes later that Lucy showed up at the club hall, Natsu right behind her. They had both showered (Lucy, before promptly kicking his ailing butt out of her car, told him he reeked of sweat and was in desperate need of shower. All she got in response was a moan.) and both of them brought their backpacks.

"Hey Natsu, why weren't you and Lucy at practice today?" Wendy questioned innocently, flashing Lucy a small smile.

"Yeah, Flame Brain, why are you hogging the new girl?" Gray cut in, arms crossed.

"Your clothes, Gray," Cana snapped absentmindedly, causing him to look down in horror before beginning the scavenger hunt for his clothes.

At least his underwear stayed on this time, Lucy thought with a sigh.

"Lucy and I were training by ourselves since she's my partner for the two-on-two!" Natsu explained happily. Then he proceeded to the bar because something smelled 'delicious,' if Lucy had heard him correctly.

"You're competing in the two-on-two?" Cana asked, eyebrows raised. Lucy assumed newbies didn't participate as much in events like that.

"I didn't really have a choice," she admitted breathily, a hand on her forehead as she thought about it. Cana laughed a little drunkenly. "Who else is competing?"

"The sheet's right over here!" Wendy led her over to a table where two papers sat. One was labeled TWO ON TWO, while the other was labeled as ONE ON ONE. Every space on the former sheet was filled in, but the latter paper still had quite a few spaces left. "You don't get to pick your opponent - just the order you go in. Whoever chose to go at the same time on the other team is who you fight. A lot of people fight in here for first and last."

Lucy nodded in acknowledgement, scanning the names on the two-on-two list.

Erza & Mirajane

Elfman & Lisanna

Natsu & Luigi

Gray & Juvia

Laki & Bickslow

She rolled her eyes, picking up the pen left on the table and rewriting her name as Lucy. So there were only five teams for the two-on-two, and ten matches for the one-on-ones. Out of the ten matches, only three names were filled in. Erza, Gray, Natsu.

"People usually wait until the day before to sign up for the single matches. I don't know why, but it's just the way we do things," Wendy explained sheepishly, her cheeks a light pink.

"Do they do the two-on-twos first?" Lucy asked, looking over her shoulder at Wendy with genuine curiosity. A voice in her mind tried to convince her to put her name on the second sheet, but -

"Yeah! Are you thinking of signing up for a single match?" the younger of the two inquired.

"Um… why not? I'm gonna get my butt kicked in a single match sooner or later. I'll take sooner," she nodded surely, scribbling her name down for the fourth slot.

"Then I'll sign up too! I'm sure you'll do great, Lucy!" The fifth slot was filled in.

"If the newbie is competing in a single match, then so am I!" a voice rose above the rest.

That declaration escalated quickly into an all-out brawl for the five remaining spots. Lucy dragged Wendy out of the way of the path of destruction, passing Natsu who was rather cheerful about joining in on a pointless fight. Levy greeted the two with a laugh.

"So how was training with Natsu?" she asked, eyebrows rising suggestively.

"It was… okay. I punched him in the face and left a nasty bruise," Lucy admitted, ignoring the looks from both Levy and Mira, who was behind the counter.

"So did you guys talk about anything?" Mira butted in, a smile on her lips as if she could do absolutely nothing wrong.

"We talked about fighting…" she trailed off, looking up at Mira and Levy's eager faces. Then she understood. "Just fighting. Nothing happened. Nothing will happen. We're just friends. Barely. I just met him."

"Well I believe in love at first sight!" Mira swooned dramatically, clasping her hands together dreamily. "You two would be the perfect couple, I just know it!"

"I'm not interested in him like that," Lucy protested, glowering.

"If you and Natsu don't work out, I could picture you with Gray!" Mira continued babbling as if Lucy hadn't spoken. Suddenly, though, Lucy felt eyes on her, and she met the piercing blue eyes of Juvia Lockser.

"Are you trying to steal Gray-sama?" she all but hissed.

"W-What? No! I don't like him like that!" But it was too late. The idea that Lucy was a competitor for Gray's attention was already set in Juvia's mind.

"Love rival."

Lucy cringed away from the eerie voice, focusing her attention on the fight. Almost every male member was involved, but Erza, Laki, and Cana had all gotten thrown into the mix as well. The blonde sighed, suddenly gaping as the two previously mentioned boys came flying her way, fists thrown in the air before they landed in a heap on top of her.

She could have sworn she saw stars before she came to and rapidly shoved both of them off her. "Get off!" she shouted, her voice lost in all of the chaos behind her. Both of them stood up after her, practically growling at each other, but their fury was dissolved when Lucy grabbed handfuls of their hair, slamming their heads together and then dropping them on the ground.

They both let out sounds that resembled "ow," but she stepped over them, snatching up her backpack hastily, angrily.

"I'm going home!"

A/N: This was kind of a filler chapter just to get the feel of how Lucy has integrated into the club. Like in the show, they're all very welcoming and immediately accept the fact that she's a part of their family now.

The two-on-two fight will probably be next chapter, and possibly the one-on-one match as well! :)

Anyways, I would like to take a second to say thank you to all of those who have review my story:
RandomObserver42
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binglebop
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Thank you all so much for the nice reviews! Also, thank you to everyone who has read, favorited, and followed the story so far! I hope you're all enjoying it!

The next chapter will be posted ASAP! :)