I really need to fix the summary...it frustrates me to no end.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail


Chapter 7: Fighting

It was supposed be called training. That's what he always called it when they fought like this. The back and forth was almost always entertaining; like a game, only he always lost. In the beginning it was great deal of fun, especially when she was decided on throwing words back at him that weren't entirely cruel. It was often like that between them; they would banter, and he would be scolded for something whether he thought it was wrong or not. If she thought something was wrong, he was not going to hear the end of it unless he came up with something clever enough to leave her speechless or the topic was too juvenile that even she gave up on it. However, recently she had been garnering quite a short fuse, which aided him in his attempt at training, although it unfortunately ended in her hellish fury and her decision to chew him out until he regretted what he'd done.

Like right now.

"What did you even think you were doing? You know what, you probably weren't thinking; that's why you were so stupid."

"I was just-"

"Natsu, please don't say something about protecting me. We are team mates and comrades. We are partners. Nakama. But you don't have to be so protective! You can't just barge in and assume that any guy that talks to me has bad intentions. He wasn't going to hurt me."

"You don't know that."

"Neither did you! Natsu, we are at the beach. I always have my keys on me, you know that."

He jammed his rounded fists into loose pant pockets, his shoulders slumping in defeat as Lucy scolded him. He was not really listening, he never did when it came to this particular fight. He had not yet grasped the skill of sparring with his words that Lucy and every other woman he knew had seemingly perfected and it annoyed him that he never had a fair opportunity to practice with a partner that wasn't intent on ripping him to shreds verbally. Happy had chosen to stay out of the fight, which was good for the Exceed since Lucy would have chewed him out too for the shedding he'd been doing recently. She had a habit of jumping topics when she was ranting, passing the blame all around their circle until it landed on her and she was basically yelling at herself. Natsu could never quite understand how she did it; how she could make such a fuss about others, but a good half hour into the shouting, she'd stop talking about them and start talking about herself negatively.

She wasn't quite there yet, though. When she berated herself, Natsu often had to cheer her up, or Levy would distract her from her self-pity which Natsu had to deal with when they got home anyway. She wasn't close to the 'laugh-at-Natsu-till-I-forget-my-troubles' stage, or even the 'I-need-to-be-cuddled' stage that Natsu found she reverted to often. She was still in the full-blown 'it's-your-fault-and-it-will-always-be-your-fault' mentality.

He let his eyes linger on the redness of her cheekbones, flushed from shouting at her companion, before seeking out the gazes of his guildmates. The majority kept their eyes away from the scene, knowing that the one-sided shouting match was meant to be more private but Natsu did catch Gray's laughter, the ice mage's eyes lit up at Natsu's misfortune. He ground his teeth in annoyance, not quite catching how Lucy was trying to get his attention, the girl snapping her fingers feverishly in front of his eyes.

"Are you listening to me?"

"Do you have to do this every time?" he muttered instead, eyes downcast.

"Of course I do," she hissed back, her voice low so only he could hear. "What are they going to think if I just let you do that?"

"That I'm a good partner?"

"No, that's you're my partner partner."

"But we are partners," Natsu growled, while Lucy shook her head in frustration.

"No, like dating partners. Like romantically involved partners. Like lovers partners!"

"So?"

"So they don't know about that. Sometimes I think that you don't either."

"You're the one being all secretive and confusing me." Lucy sighed and turned around to walk away before his hand struck out, fingers latching on to her wrist to snatch her back to him. "Lucy, explain!"

"There's nothing to explain."

"If I don't get it, then of course there's something to explain." The girl shot a brown eyed glare at him and he glared back just as definitely; maybe more so.

"What?"

"Explain!"

"No. I have had it with this, Dragneel. You keep your fists to yourself; I'm going to swim with Levy."

"But-" A sharp look silenced him and he let her stalk off, her curses mumbled under her breath at a volume that only his dragon slayer ears could catch.

He sat down instantly, staring at her retreating back with a concentrated expression. What was she thinking? And what had she meant when she said that he didn't know they were together? How could he not know? He had been the one to ask her to always be with him forever; he had been the one to say that she always made him happy except for when they fought. She stole a peak at him as she walked away but he was still busy trying to decode her true intentions that he missed the look entirely. Lucy was rarely straightforward with him when it came to matters of the heart and, as her partner, it was his job to figure out what her heart meant so they could go back to being happy.

"Why are you staring at Lucy?"

He turned his head to see Asuka taking a seat in the sand next to him, her hair tied into a small ponytail at the base of her neck. Her bright blue bathing suit covered the entirety of her body, the bottom of her one piece splaying out a bit to make a small skirt. "'Cause she's mad at me and she's not really tellin' me why."

"She didn't tell you?"

"Well, she did. I just meant that she's being all womanly and confusing about it. She's treating me like a kid, you know what I mean?"

Asuka blinked at him and nodded. "Yup. Mommy and Daddy don't let me do big kid stuff like you guys. They say it's 'cause they want to keep me safe."

"Well, I want to keep Lucy safe, but she won't let me." He let out a sigh and watched as the woman strode away, her mumbled curses still making their way into his ears. "What do you think I should do, Asuka?"

"Well is she mad because she's hurt?"

"I dunno...I don't think so."

"Oh...when Daddy hurts Mommy's feelings, he always kisses it better. And I know that you kiss Happy sometimes, but maybe that's what you need to do."

Natsu ignored the comment about his furry friends, choosing instead to purse his lips in thought. "Lucy did always like it when the other boys kissed her...I've only tried it a couple times but she always got real red for some reason so I thought it made her sick or something and I stopped."

"Maybe no kisses then..." said Asuka, her lips pursed in deep thought. She sat next to the dragon slayer in silence without opening her mouth once and Natsu thought the look didn't quite suit the face of a small child. Asuka was much too young to worry about the troubles of grown ups. "Don't worry, Natsu!" she said suddenly, standing up with a grand smile. "Detective Asuka is on the case!"

Natsu gave her a pat on the head, conjuring up a reassuring smile. "Yeah, you do that, Asuka."

"I'll report back to you when I have more information!" She saluted him quickly before running of, her little legs carrying her as fast as they could.

With a resigned sigh, Natsu rose to his feet as well and set off to do something that would make him feel better; like kicking Gray's ass.

"Pssssssst. Pssssst." Natsu hand rubbed the sleep from his eyes, his orbs trying to adjust to the moonlight the shone through the bars of the window, lighting up everything.

"Wuzhappenin?" he slurred, the words coming out roughly in his throat. His tongue felt dry and the feeling was quickly relieved with aid from the water bottle he kept next to his cot. The sound was heard again and he dragged himself to the door to investigate the familiar scent that lay beyond it. He pulled the door open and dropped to his haunches, his mouth opening and closing widely as a yawn passed through him.

"Nastu!" Asuka hissed, her own body crouched down.

"Yeah?" he whispered back.

"I got an idea!"

"What kind of idea?" Asuka put a hand into her pajama pocket and withdrew a pen and a scrap of paper, both of which she tried to give to him. He took them like they were more than foreign objects to him and furrowed his brow. "What am I supposed to do with these?"

"Write a note!"

"But, why would I write a note?" He stared at the items and frowned. He hadn't had to write in such a long time; he had busied himself with enough missions to avoid that. The basics of reading he knew because of the dangerously strict lessons he had had with Erza but even then, Happy and Lucy took on the more complex sentences. The thought of going back to the knowledge that Erza had quite literally beat into him made him a little more than anxious.

"Well, I discovered that Lucy really likes to read."

"I could've told you that myself. Lucy's the biggest bookworm I've ever seen."

"Exactly." Asuka tapped a fist into her open palm for emphasis. "You've got to write her something so she can read it. If you can't talk to her, then give her something to read instead!"

"That...is a great idea, Asuka!" He set the paper down on the floor and prepared the pen, making a show of deciding what to write. "What should I put down?"

"Uh, tell her that you're sorry and then write something to make her laugh!"

"Make her laugh? Normally, I gotta do that in person. On paper is kinda hard, don't you think, Asuka?"

"You saying you can't do it?"

"Of course I can! There's nothing I can't do!" He set to his pen to the paper and wrote something quickly on the page. It was a simple, one word apology and an insult towards the boy whom Natsu had very easily driven off. While it wasn't exactly what Asuka had recommended, he figured it'd be good enough. "Here, just give her this."

Asuka took the paper and stared at the words as if silently deciphering them. "Okay, this looks good." Once she had left his room and disappeared down the hall, Natsu flopped back on to his bed, running a hand through his pink locks with regret. Perhaps he should have just spoken to Lucy. It generally ended well when he did, and his brooding nearly made him get out of his position and head to her room. What stopped him, of course, was the fat that he was far too tired to do such a thing. Maybe he would see her tomorrow, he told himself as he snuggled into his pillow, shutting his eyes. She would sleep off her anger, he'd tell her what he wanted to in person so that she would stop being angry and then they would be back to normal again. The idea sounded very good in his mind...

It was the sound of her feet that woke him up and when Asuka climbed on to his cot, he realized that he had fallen asleep for a brief moment, but not brief enough, it seemed, to remain asleep. "What are you doing back here?"

"Lucy gave me a note to give you!"

"Wait, what?" His head rose up from the pillow to see a small white sheet of paper being waved in front of his face. He took the sheet, and opened it to see Lucy's delicate scrawl within.

What did you expect to accomplish by sending me a letter, Natsu Dragneel?

He bit his lip. It was not exactly the response he was expecting but if she was conversing with him, then he would take it, he supposed.

"Asuka, do you have-" The little girl shoved the pen into her face as well and he chuckled, taking it from her with a tired smile on his lips. "Thanks."

"You gotta write quick! Mommy said that I have to sleep soon."

"Right..." He wrote his response on the page beneath Lucy's words without a second thought and handed it to Asuka.

"Okay! I'll be back soon, Natsu. You better be awake!"

He waved her off, slumping back into his pillow the second she disappeared around the corner. Why did Lucy have to respond? Now he had to make sure everything he wrote down was the right thing to write down. Not to mention that he was getting a very annoyed vibe from her letter...which meant that she would be very critical with what he wrote to her. He prayed that Levy was with her; the blue haired girl always seemed to calm Lucy down in a way that he couldn't.

"I'm back!"

"That was quick.," he groaned, sticking his hand out, where Asuka placed the letter along with her pen. He swallowed another sigh and cracked an eye out to see the words that Lucy had left him this time.

You can be such a hothead, you know that right?

Huh, that was odd. She seemed better in this note. Although she had written in a rush, there was something about her words that gave Natsu that little bit of hope; enough to push him forward and respond so that Asuka could give the letter to Lucy once more.

She assured her swift return and took off into the hall. Maybe the fight would be over quicker than he thought. Upon such an idea, he shook his head, trying to rid himself of such an optimistic outcome. If he jinxed it now, it would mean more nights where a pissed off Lucy haunted his dreams and real life. He would have to tread carefully and respond with more consideration; both of which were hard when he had Asuka poking and prodding him to write quicker. The back and forth continued multiple times before Natsu got his desired result:

You're lucky pink is my favourite colour.

He let out a whoop of cheer and quickly allowed his scrawl to fill the rest of the note. He was forgiven! "Asuka, you're really good at this note taking thing."

"I knew it would work." She beamed. "Nice doing business with you!"

"Business?"

"Yeah. I helped you out. Lucy said you owe me now."

"What?!" He glared down at the paper where her handwritten words sat, teasing him in their navy ink. The trickster. No wonder she had conceded so easily. He wrote something else and handed it to Asuka. "You go give her a piece of my mind."

"Wha- Still? I thought she forgave you!"

"How do you know that she forgave me?" He narrowed his eyes. "Have you been reading the notes?"

"'Course not. Mommy and Daddy didn't teach me to read yet!"

"Then how did you know?"

"Mommy may have mentioned something..."

"You showed the notes to Alzack and Bisca?!" he exclaimed, watching her wring her hands nervously.

"Well, I wanted to know what it said and Mommy said she'd read it to me."

"Did she?" He fell back onto his cot, exhausted. If her parents knew, then it was only a matter of time before the other guild members would start learning of it as well. The pair were secretive of their own feelings but had not as much trouble as most thought discussing the feelings of others. "Well, go give that to Lucy and tell her I'm going to sleep."

"Really?" Asuka looked at him. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just tired of fighting all day and worrying about it. I'll sleep good and long knowing I don't have Lucy all angry with me. Thanks again, Asuka."

"You're welcome!" she said cheerily, backing away from him with the letter.

"Oh, and before you sleep, could you tell your parents that I want to see them tomorrow morning?"

"Okay! What for?"

"I think that they're bored and need a little fighting to liven them up." He smiled darkly, the thought of battle warming up his insides. "It is summer, after all."

"You're not going to hurt them, are you?"

"Just some friendly fighting, don't you worry. Fairy Tail always battles, you know that, Asuka!"

She seemed a bit unconvinced but a few sweets in her pocket later and she was off to deliver her messages, a skip in her step and an innocent air about her.


Please R&R?