Natuski & Acnologia: four/five years old
Zeref: seven/eight years old
Chapter Four:
Violence does solve problems.
"You can only become friends by talking to people and finding out whether you get along." -Shougo Kiryuu, Isshūkan Friends.
"Control is key, he says," Natsuki grumbled under her breath.
Once again, the young Mage had lost control of her Magic. Well, not really. She was just trying out some fire encased kicks and punches when suddenly, after a basic roundhouse kick, her fire had spiraled around her leg.
Okay fine, she did lose control.
Sue her.
Not her fault her Magic did as it pleased sometimes.
Honestly, her fire just wanted to play a bit. What was wrong with letting her Magic be free?
"Noooo," the girl mocked in a high tone. "You gotta control your magic, not the other way around."
Ha!
Natsuki just had to scoff at her father's words, despite knowing where he was coming from.
Mid-scoff, however, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her and pulling her into an alley. The girl tensed as she was pinned to a wall. "Oi, don't-" she was cut off as the stranger's hand clamped down on her mouth while their free arm still had her pinned.
"Not so tough without your fancy magic tricks, are ya little miss," a jeering voice mocked her.
Natsuki narrowed her eyes at the generic man in front of her, briefly recognizing him as the ringleader of the trio that had been beating up Acnologia the day before. What was this idiot going to do to her?
Beat her?
Scare her?
"Now that I think about it, you're quite the pretty little thing, aren't ya?"
Oh.
So he was that type of scum. As if beating a child wasn't enough, he just had to add pedophilia and rape to the list. There goes all his chances of actually earning her pity, too bad. Sometimes her fellow humans really disappointed her.
Not only that, but he was trying to rape her in an alley in the freakin' morning.
Also, did the idiot really forget that she could use fire magic?
'I am so going to make you regret messing with me...' Natsuki thought to herself, feeling her Magic well up inside her in anticipation.
However, before she could initiate the fight, the man made a weird gurgling noise.
Natsuki didn't understand what was going on until the man coughed, splattering blood on her forehead before slumping down. With a dazed feeling, she stared at the knife sticking out from the man's neck.
She felt sick.
"Are you going to just stand there?"
Natsuki tore her gaze from the man—no, corpse—to look at Acnologia. Of course, it was Acnologia.
Who else could it have been?
"...why?"
The boy frowned at her as if she was speaking a different language. "What?"
"Why did you kill him?"
"Are you an idiot? He was going to rape you," Acnologia hissed at her.
Natsuki flinched at his tone. "You didn't have to kill him! Besides, I had it covered..."
She wasn't going to kill him. She was just going to beat the crap out of him.
She couldn't—wouldn't kill anyone if she could help it.
Acnologia snorted. "You definitely had it covered from where I was standing."
Natsuki fixed the boy with a defiant look. "I had it covered," she firmly repeated, summoning her fires to her clenched fists for emphasis.
He stared at her fists for a moment before gazing up at her with a stoic look. Without a shift in his expression, he walked towards her. In three long strides, he was already standing in front of her.
She narrowed her eyes at him as he raised his hand.
If it was a fight he wanted, she would beat—
He wiped at her forehead. "Tch, can't take your holier than thou attitude seriously with that blood on your face, idiot."
His words made the tension go away, and without any resistance, she allowed her body to relax against his hand that was still wiping the blood off of her forehead. Her fire had dispersed, leaving behind only a faint scent of smoke as proof that it was there in the first place.
"I don't have a holier than thou attitude," she protested. "I just think that killing isn't the answer when you could have just knocked him out."
Acnologia paused, looking her in the eyes. "Why would I have given the trash that kind of mercy?"
"Because, maybe he had family."
Her words made him narrow his eyes at her, but he didn't say anything else.
Suddenly, Natsuki could feel the awkwardness between them.
Surprisingly, it had nothing to do with the dead man laying practically millimeters apart from them.
Though, a sudden thought hit Natsuki.
"Wait, were you following me?"
Acnologia deadpanned at her. "Obviously."
Before Natsuki could give the boy a verbal response, her stomach growled.
She felt heat rushing up her cheeks as Acnologia gave her stomach an unimpressed look. "Pig."
"S-shut up! I'd like to see you run laps around this freakin' city without even eating breakfast!"
Acnologia rolled his eyes and grabbed her wrist.
Natsuki made a confused noise as she was dragged away, towards the exit of the city.
"Hey! Stop manhandling me!"
It honestly said something about her that she was more concerned over the manhandling than the destination. In her defense, her parents always did tell her she was a special type of person.
:::
"I officially love you," Natsuki shamelessly said, staring at the wild boar that was being roasted in front of her.
"You're drooling."
Natsuki absently wiped the drool from her mouth and simply wiped her hand against the tree log she was sitting on. From across her, where Acnologia was sitting on another tree log, he sent her a disgusted look.
"How much longer?"
"A minute or so," Acnologia answered, not even glancing at their meal.
Noticing him staring at her, Natsuki tore her gaze away from the boar and looked at Acnologia.
He didn't even blink as he continued staring at her.
Smiling, Natsuki started tilting her head to the left and to the right, feeling amused as the boy followed her movements with his eyes. Out of nowhere, Acnologia shot towards her, aiming a punch.
Squeaking in surprise, Natsuki pulled herself back to avoid the punch.
She grimaced when she felt her back aching a bit at hitting the ground. Her legs were still sprawled over the log, but luckily for her, Acnologia wasn't moving. In fact, his hand was still outstretched in the punch he was aiming at her.
But, there was something about that punch.
Something behind it.
No, not really behind it.
More like this overwhelming feeling that Natsuki was having.
It was almost like—she gasped.
"Ethernano?"
Acnologia let his hand fall to his side, giving her an acknowledging nod. "For an idiot, you have good reflex. Next time, don't get caught by trash."
"W-wait, screw that!" Natsuki exclaimed, pulling herself up in order to be face-to-face with Acnologia. "You can use pure Ethernano?!"
Acnologia raised an eyebrow at her. "What nonsense are you spewing now?" He then shook his head. "No matter, the food is ready. Maybe you'll start making sense after you eat, idiot."
Natsuki's eyes bulged out as Acnologia started putting out the fire.
He had to be joking, right?
There was no way Acnologia didn't know that Ethernano was the particles of Magic. There was no way someone could be that powerful without knowing. There was no way he didn't know that he could basically manipulate the Ethernano around them whenever he wanted to.
No way, right?
'Here I thought that Big Brother was ridiculously strong...' Natsuki gulped.
"Hey idiot, I'll start eating without you if you don't wipe that stupid look off of your face."
Snapping out of her thoughts, Natsuki fixed Acnologia a glare. "No fair! My fire cooked it, so sixty percent is mine!"
"I caught the damn thing!"
"I spotted it in the first place!"
With that, they started fighting.
It was the start of a beautiful bond.
Soon enough, they became inseparable.
:::
