[Author Note: I seriously can't wait for the manga to be updated! Mashima is seriously leaving me hanging... I still can't get over the teaser that was released for the second Fairy Tail movie! I can't wait to hear more information about it!

Furthermore, I need to boast. Well, boast about all of you who have supported this story! Thank you for 27 favorites and 59 follows! I love you all so much! Don't get me started on the views... 7,148+ views! Sorry for a late update, I got a new laptop since my old one got stolen! Yay! Such good news... And to think of the one-shots I saved on that one... I tried to upload a story from my phone but that didn't work so yay for new laptop!]

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail,Hiro Mashima does. I just simply own the plot and borrowing the characters of the Manga/Anime, Fairy Tail. Enjoy!

Chapter 9: Womanly Struggles

Normal POV

"LUCY KICK!"

"Ya know, I can just see more of your stained und- OOF!" With a satisfied smile, Lucy walked away to change her underwear and tampon. On her way, she mumbled about Natsu being an obvious idiot.

Natsu was certainly left dumbfounded, had he said something wrong? Igneel explained to him about the monthly cycle with a few warnings...

XxX

The fire dragon swept up the pink-haired child with his tail, sitting him down on the rough ground. The darkness had over swept the cave. Brightly shining stars were their only source of light as the moon had disappeared into the sky. The pink-haired child always thought of how such a thing could disappear so sudden like that but return so soon. The moon had never failed to amaze him. It was the same as how he felt about the stars.

"Now, Natsu," Igneel started with a stern voice, "You must remember that females have a little monster in them once a month. When that time comes for them, it is important to not push their buttons." Observing the look Natsu held, Igneel sighed at the child.

Holding a dumbfounded face at this new information, Natsu's head perked up with a mischievous grin. "They have buttons on them? I've never seen them before! Even after what happened today with that weird lady."

The dragon heavily sighed at his adopted son. "You need to stay away from those weird ladies, Natsu. Especially when you're older. What you saw today is a person who sells their body."

Natsu's eyes widened. "They sell their bodies?! What about their heads?"

Igneel held a glare at Natsu. "No, when I mean they sell their bodies, those people ask other people if they want to do things with them for money."

"Really?" Igneel nodded his head slowly. "Wow! Can I do that? It sounds like fun if you get to do fun things for money!"

"No! You can never do things like that. I would not like you to be doing such a thing." Natsu's body shook with the echo of his voice. Igneel only used that tone when he was completely serious to something.

The small boy frowned, "I won't do that then." With a small approving pat from Igneel, Natsu smiled. "What about those monsters? Can you defeat them?"

Igneel didn't get what Natsu talked about until he remembered what they were originally conversing about. "You can't defeat them, it's impossible." He could feel the pinkette's cheery aura fall. "But what you can do is not get them angry. No teasing, especially."

"Got it!"

"You are allowed to be around them, just don't anger, annoy, or sadden them. Okay?" Natsu nodded his head. "Now, I think I should give you the talk of the birds and bees. It would be easier if you understand earlier on."

The pink haired child eagerly grinned, "Birds and bees?! Awesome! Except, I don't like bees, they sting me too much... And birds are annoying in the morning... Also..." As the child mumbled on about his favorite and non-favorite things of both animals, Igneel sighed to himself.

"Today is not the day, Igneel... Today is not the day. Just face it, your son is incredibly dense." With a palm to the face, Igneel then spoke, "I'm not even sure if that's the right word to use in his case."

XxX

He had already broken the rule! Don't annoy or anger them. So far, Natsu realized he had done both things. It's good he hasn't saddened her. He really never liked it when an upset aura hung around her. He preferred her bright personality. No matter how annoying it could get.

All he knew was that her emotions and moods were on the line here.

"Natsu..." The pinkette whipped his head back to only wish he had never been on this mission. A dark aura surrounded Lucy as a angered glint appeared in her eyes along with an annoyed tick on her forehead. Never before has he been so frightened. The blonde almost compared to Erza at this moment. "I was wearing pants last night. Where did they go?" She dangerously asked.

His struggled gulp was quite audible. He didn't know if he could trust his voice at this moment. At the same time, he didn't want to die under Lucy's grasp. "Uh, in the tent!" He nervously watched Lucy's movements. She headed towards the tent, crawling inside.

Natsu couldn't help but stop breathing. It was only for a mere three seconds but it felt like hours. He swallowed nervously. Not because of fear, but because of the sight. His eyes followed her bottom as she crawled. What was up with him nowadays? He had no answer.

In the middle of his stare down, Natsu stepped out of his trance as a snicker came from behind him.

"Thought you were too dense to even check out a girl." Before Natsu could respond to the raven-haired man, Lucy crawled out of the tent.

"I can't find them, Natsu. Why am I in a skirt when I was clearly wearing pants last night?" Gray even found the blonde quite scary looking. Whatever Natsu did pushed the biggest button of all.

"Um, check under the blanket. You must've changed at night without noticing me." She sighed and once again entered the tent, giving Natsu another mouth-watering view.

Gray nudged him roughly, "What the hell are you doing? Do you really want to piss her off even more by checking her ass out?"

"Don't bother me, it's not like you haven't checked her out before." He snapped, feeling a warmth pooling in his lower stomach. "It's only normal."

The raven-haired teen chuckled, "Heh, I can't believe it. I actually may win the bet." Natsu confusingly looked up at Gray. "Oh, right. You and Lucy don't know about it. Though, Cana and Mira have some chances. Same with Lisanna and Levy. Master already lost... Gildarts has a chance though. Damn, I just wanna win some money."

"What money? And what bet are you talking about? How come Luce and I never heard of it?"

"Found it! But I don't remember changing in the middle of the night..." The blonde interrupted the conversation, holding up a pair of pants. Natsu held a small tint on his cheeks while Gray laughed.

"Oh yeah! Well..." Natsu scratched his cheek with his index finger. He had to confess sooner or later. "I woke up sometime at night and you didn't have your pants on so I put the skirt on you... What's the big deal about that?" Lucy became flushed because of this news. Her face raging with embarrassment and anger.

"LUCY-KICK!"

"OOF!" Natsu grimaced at the pain. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"

"For being a pervert!"

"How was I a pervert?!"

Gray decided to butt in, wanting to see Natsu tortured. "Yo, Lucy, he checked out your ass the whole entire time. I tried to tell him to stop but he just wouldn't." Watching her glare harden at the pinkette, Gray chuckled and head back to his tent. He didn't want to see what Lucy would do to Natsu at second thought. All he knew was that blood would be spilled.

"You... You were checking me out like-like some pervert?!" The blonde exclaimed as she plopped down on a log.

The dragon slayer put his hands up in defense, "Everyone checks you out! I don't get why your makin' a big deal about it with me!"

Lucy gawked at the teen. Realizing that no words were going to come out, she closed her mouth. What was she supposed to answer? "Maybe because you..." There was a pregnant pause. It was clear she was hesitating for an answer. "You are always the one doing perverted stuff! Taking my bras and underwear and playing ninja with Happy while wearing them! Or barging in my bathroom when I'm taking a bath! Or sleeping with me in my bed when I'm not awake!"

With his regular boyish grin, he replied lazily back to the blonde, "You do realize I can't do that stuff to you anymore, right? You're living with me and Happy! Well, we still play ninja when you're not looking but I don't barge into the bathroom when your taking a bath!"

"Harold."

"Okay, lady! That was a one time thing! Harold was a different situation!" Natsu confessed as he then sniffled, "And how dare you bring up Harold..."

Lucy rolled her eyes and sighed in defeat, "I guess your right. Sorry, Natsu. Anyways, you've seen me naked countless of times, hell, probably everyone has!"

Natsu snickered, "I don't think any other man than me has seen you completely naked multiple of times."

"Gray."

"THAT BASTARD!"

"WHO DARES TO CALL GRAY-SAMA A BASTARD?! JUVIA WILL–– Gray-sama!" Juvia exited out of Lucy's tent and immediately caught Gray walking out of his tent. The blue-haired woman instantly ran to the ice-make mage and threw her arms around him.

Natsu glared at them in disgust. Who would like a stripper like Gray? "When did Gray see you completely naked?! Did he pull any moves on you?!"

Lucy snapped her head from Gray and Juvia to Natsu, "NO! Why would he pull any moves on me?! You were both there when it happened!"

The pinkette's jaw dropped. He had been there with Gray and saw her naked? "When did that happen?"

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Lucy sighed for what had to be the 1,000th time that day. "With... With Éclair and Momon. We we're running away from that man and you and Gray caught up with us. My towel fell and..." Her cheeks were dusted with a light pink colour. With the mention of Éclair and Momon, tears were stinging the edge of Lucy's eyes. But she knew they were now happy, Éclair wouldn't have to suffer anymore in this world. The blonde knew Momon will forever be with Éclair.

Natsu frowned. He remembered Éclair and her little yellow companion. It pained him that night when she and her companion had passed on. Especially when Lucy had cried. He had tried his best to comfort her, embracing her tightly as she cried into his chest.

"Anyways," A small smile began to form on the celestial mage's lips. "I wish we were up on the mountain. Mira said that it would take 4 or 5 days to complete this mission but I didn't believe her. It's a rare gem after all."

(Somewhere far in the distance...)

The take-over mage frowned at the lacrima ball in front of her. Had she really said that it would take that many days to complete the mission?

"I didn't mean it for the whole mission! I was talking about the travel!" The white-haired model apologetically exclaimed.

"Aye!"

(Back in the forest)

"Luce, I think I'm the only one who's seen you nude the most, though. I gotta admit, of course I would be!" Natsu then smugly added, "I'm the only special person in your life."

"No. No, you're not."

"I'M NOT SPECIAL TO YOU?!"

"Meh."

"NATSU-KICK!" The pinkette raised his leg and kicked Lucy lightly in the arm. Though, it was enough force to send her flying into his tent.

"NATSU!" Grabbing her whip and cracking it against the floor for testing, the blonde whipped it in the direction where Natsu was standing.

The reaction she received was disturbing. Really disturbing. Never again would she use her whip on Natsu. Never again.

Or, at least in public.

(Hours later)

The four guild members did not talk to one another for a while. Even Juvia kept quiet. And that was rare because Gray was walking right beside her. Like the other times, Gray and Juvia were up in the front as Natsu and Lucy stayed behind.

Here is a brief explanation as to why no one would talk. After Lucy whipped Natsu, receiving a rather dirty reaction, Gray and Juvia had (unknowingly to Lucy and Natsu) disappeared into Gray's tent only to be brought back out by the sound of... a moan mixed with a grunt. Gray gawked at the sight as Juvia blushed and covered her ears. There stood Natsu with closed eyes and a pleased smile as Lucy's jaw was basically on the ground along with her whip. Yup, things got awkward.

So, here they were, traveling north into the forest. Natsu cursed under his breath, wishing his blue companion were there to fly above the trees and tell them where to go.

Wait... fly above trees!

Excitedly, Natsu exclaimed, "I got it!" His three guildmates looked at him as he was the one to break the silence. "Someone can climb up a tree and look around to see where the mountain is!"

"Natsu..." Lucy called out nervously.

"Yeah?"

Gray heavily sighed, "We have been traveling up the mountain. Have you seriously not noticed?"

"Really? We have?"

"Yes, Natsu-San. Is Natsu-San always this dense?" The water mage confirmed the information, questioning Natsu of his level of denseness.

Gray nodded at Juvia, "Oblivious, stupid, idiot, retarded-"

"She gets it!" The dragon slayer gritted in-between his teeth.

With the silence broken, Juvia was left to talk (more like admire*) her Gray-Sama, leaving Natsu and Lucy out of the conversation.

"Luce?"

"Yes?"

In a quieter voice than normal, the dragon slayer said, "When we're alone at home, not even Happy being there," (Lucy was getting nervous about where this would end.) Leaning into her personal space, Natsu then whispered hotly into her ear, "can you use the whip on me? It feels really good."

"Natsu,"

"What?"

"Maybe."

With his normal, boyish grin with a tint of a mischievous look, he pumped his fist in the air, "Awesome!"

(At the Guild)

"Huehuehue, they liiiiiike each other." Happy stated as Mirajane stood there with a dumbfounded expression.

"Happy," She started with a gentle smile, "Maybe we should back out of the deal with placing a secret lacrima in your house. I really don't want to hear or see any of it happening... But it is proof... Not much that would prove the bet..."

"Aye... I think I might want to move out of the house. Ooh! And maybe I can stay with Wendy and Charle!"

With a devilish grin, Mira stared at the lacrima in front of them, "You never told me Natsu was the kinky type?"

Happy, having the exact identical look on his face as Mira, giggled evilly. "You should hear whenever he sleep talks! He says weird stuff like, "Lucy, I command you to make me food!" Or even, "Lucy as a dragon slayer looks cute and awesome!" Natsu is just weird like that."

"Happy, come over to my house tonight, I want you to tell me more of the stuff Natsu says."

"Aye!"

(On mountain)

"Natsu, I have a feeling someone's talking about me." Lucy said whilst crossing her arms over her chest.

Natsu grinned, "That's because you're a weirdo, Luce."