CHAPTER 9

[A/N: Hooray finally another chapter. HOLY CRAP ON A CRACKER! 90 REVIEWS! I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH, MAYBE I SHOULD HOLD MY CHAPTERS HOSTAGE MORE OFTEN! JUST KIDDING, SHIPPERS HOLD ONTO THE RAILING COZ YOUR GONNA LOVE ME AFTER THIS, please leave a review to let me know what you thought, and most of all enjoy the chapter!]


"How the- What the- What are you doing here!?" yelled Natsu.

Natsu was never one to be caught off-guard, but man did he get the shock of his life when he saw Lucy; of all the places to see her again…

"I-I-I'm supposed to be participating in the archery competition, what are YOU doing here!?" asked Lucy equally surprised.

She never imagined she'd ever bump into him here of all places, what were the chances?!

"Well, this is my school…" said Natsu, overcoming the initial shock.

"Eh!? Seriously!?" yelled Lucy in surprise, her eyes widening even more.

Natsu chuckled at her behavior; she had such a cute face on. Just then Natsu realized the position they were in; Lucy was practically straddling him, and it didn't even look like she noticed, and from the angle they were in he could see her cleavage very clearly.

Natsu's face lit up as red as Erza's hair and he felt an uncomfortable tightening in his pants, and unless he wanted her to feel super awkward he needed her to get off him, and fast.

"U-um, L-Lucy?" started Natsu uncomfortably, looking everywhere except at her.

"Yeah?" she asked with a curious expression; so completely clueless, sigh.

"U-um, n-not to be rude but, c-could you maybe, um…" Natsu couldn't even form a coherent sentence he was so embarrassed, so he just hoped that she'd focus on the gestures he made with his eyes at their position.

Lucy noticed that Natsu was gesturing at something but wasn't sure what, she followed the motion of his eyes… and then she realized.

Her face went lumo red and she immediately jumped back and landed on her butt in a panic.

"I-I-I-I-I'm s-s-s-s-s-sorry!" she yelled in embarrassment, she couldn't believe she was in such a compromising position and she didn't even notice it! She was screaming at herself inside her head about how much of an airhead she is, but just then she felt a searing pain shoot up her angle; she winced in pain and let out a small whimper.

Natsu noticed this and was about to stand up to walk over to her but was stopped by a sudden impact on his face.

"Stay back you perverted bastard!"

For those of you who want to know; here's what happened:

When Levy first saw Lucy her first instinct was to go and help her with the large fight, but when she saw a flash of pink hair she froze; that guy HAD to be the real Salamander, she was sure of it this time, he even had the scaly scarf on, although why he would wear it at this time of year was a mystery [A/N: I don't live in America or Japan, but I'm pretty sure you guys start school in the spring right? And in spring it's generally warm right? If you can please let me know coz where I live we have a completely different schooling system, so I need some 'professional' assistance]. Then she saw Lucy trip and fall on that guy and her mind went numb; this was exactly what she was trying to prevent… and it was happening right in front of her eyes! And as if it couldn't get any worse Lucy was basically straddling him and didn't even notice. Then Levy came to the assumption that the Salamander was using this to take advantage of her; the bastard, Levy just wanted to pound his face in, but with Lucy still on top of him like that she could only sit and watch. Luckily though, her best friend signals must have hit Lucy, coz she suddenly jumped back from him; giving her the perfect opportunity to attack.

Levy ran as fast as she could, jumped in midair and delivered a strong kick at Natsu's face, effectively stepping on it as he fell backwards, then she jumped off and admired her work with a smirk [Haha, hey that rhymed]; the now semi-permanent mark of her shoeprint on Natsu's face.

Now only three people reacted to this action; the archery girls were still fighting so they didn't pay any attention, Lucy's face was along the lines of a 'What-the-heck-just-happened' face, Natsu was staring at the ceiling in complete shock, he thought he was delusional; did I midget really just step on his face? Not only that but she called him a pervert too?

And then the third reaction…

Gajeel was rolling on the floor laughing his ass off, tears streaming down his cheeks from laughing so hard and clutching his stomach. That was the best thing he'd seen all day, besides Laxus getting beat up by a chick at least.

"Hmph, hopefully that'll teach you to never touch my Lu-chan ever again!" said Levy as she pointed accusingly at Natsu who was still blinking from shock and confusion while clutching his now swollen forehead.

"L-Levy-chan, wh-why did you…" started Lucy; she was so deep in shock the words just weren't coming out, of all the things that had happened today this was one of the craziest she had seen so far.

Levy… of all people… kicked a guy in the face… and he didn't even call her short!

WHAT THE HELL!?

"Oh Lu-chan! Are you ok did he-Ah!"

"Get out of the way midget, we're in the middle of something here!"

Just as Levy was walking towards Lucy, one of the Fairy Tail girls who were fighting took a step back and made Levy fall on her butt; and this girl was none other than Cana Alberona.

Unfortunately for Cana though, she did the one thing that she really shouldn't have done; comment on Levy's height.

A tick mark appeared on Levy's forehead; completely blinded by rage she jumped up off the floor and tackled Cana from behind "Don't call me short you fake-breasted bimbo!" she yelled, completely forgetting about Lucy. [A/N: Hey, I had to find SOME way to distract her]

"Levy-chan!" yelled Lucy as she saw her friend jump right into the mass of fighting girls, she tired to get up but the pain in her ankle made her fall back down on the ground in pain.

"Ow, it hurts" she whimpered, gently placing her hand on her now swollen ankle and wincing slightly at the pain.

Natsu sat upright off the floor and shook his head, this day was just too weird for him; first Erza beats him up for no real reason, then Laxus gets into a fight with Elfmans' big sis, then he runs into Lucy again, and then a midget knocks him back and steps on his face!

Natsu's gaze lands on Lucy and he notices the look of pain in her face. Immediately concerned but also cautious, seeing as he got a surprise attack from a midget, he got up and carefully made his way over to the injured beauty.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked concerned, his face showing worry.

Lucy touched her ankle again to check if the pain had subsided, but she still felt the wave of it and whimpered again. "I-I think I twisted my ankle, wh-when I stepped in that hole…" she said painfully, still staring at her ankle.

"Hole?" asked Natsu confused.

He looked back and noticed the hole in the floor, and then it dawned on him…

That was the very hole Erza had told him to repair, and he was so pissed off at her that all he did was place a piece of newspaper over it, well you cant really blame the guy; she did use is face to make the hole in the first place.

But it was technically his fault that she was in pain now.

His face paled and he felt extremely guilty; this girl had basically saved his life the other day and how does he repay her? By getting her ankle twisted, yeah, real cool dude.

"You had no right to say that Kagura!"

"Like hell I didn't! You know its true!"

Natsu snapped out of his guilty daze and looked around him; this fight was getting more and more out of control, especially since Erza joined in, and with Lucy injured like this she wouldn't be very safe here for long.

So he made a decision, he was gonna have to take her somewhere safe and treat her injury!

Well it is the least he can do for her since she was hurt, and she did save his ass.

'It's not like I'm doing it just to look cool and make an impression on her or anything, and it's not like this is the perfect opportunity to sneak out with her coz my friends are distracted either.' He thought.

Yeah right… who was he trying to convince?

He had a determined look on his face. He leaned down and picked her up; carrying her bridal style [A/N: Kyaaa! I've always wanted to write that!] and made his way quickly out the dojo, making sure that nobody saw him either. Seeing as this was extremely out of character for him his friends would never let him hear the end of it.

Lucy was blushing really hard right now, she had never been carried like this before, and not only that but by a boy! And not just any boy but by Natsu!

Wait, why was the fact that it was Natsu such an important factor here!?

Her brain was going a mile a minute, she hadn't even managed to say anything the whole time he had been carrying her; she just kept opening and closing her mouth like an illiterate idiot the whole time.

"W-w-w-w-what are you doing!?" she squeaked, her eyes shut tight from embarrassment.

Natsu's face was slightly pink from embarrassment as well; he had never done this before and it was extremely weird for him, but he kind of… liked it.

He looked down at her and noticed her embarrassed expression, for some reason he felt proud that he could make her react that way to him, and he couldn't fight the smirk that made its way on his face.

"I'm taking you to the infirmary, I gotta treat that injury of yours before it gets worse" he said with a grin.

Lucy's eyes shot open and she stared at him in awe, her face even more red than before; this kind of thing had never happened to her before.

She then realized that she was openly staring at him and immediately shifted her attention to anywhere else but him. She kept wondering why her heart was beating so fast, and prayed that he couldn't hear it.

Natsu was trying desperately to keep his blush at an unnoticeable shade, and luckily it looked like Lucy hadn't noticed; which he was deeply relieved for, now he only had one thing to be concerned about…

…He desperately hoped that Nurse Bob wasn't in the infirmary


"Ah crap, of all the stupid things that could happen Laxus has to be involved in a friggen fight!" muttered Gray as he stomped down the halls on his way to the headmasters' office.

"Still, what the hell did he do to piss Elfman's sister off so much in the first place?" he asked himself.

He turned a corner only to crash into someone (again) and fell back on his ass.

"Oof!" he said.

He looked up to see the person he ran into only to notice a strangely familiar face.

"Hey… didn't I…?"

"G-Gray-sama!" [A/N: Pft, dead giveaway]

"Eh? 'Gray-sama'?" he questioned.

[A/N: GRUVIA FANS REJOICE!]

He literally just bumped into this girl a few minutes ago, and she already attached such an honorific to his name? Okaaaayy?

Then it registered that he had yet again knocked a girl over, not only that but the exact same girl too, this was like some twist of fate…

...good thing he didn't believe in that mumbo jumbo.

Juvia couldn't believe what was happening, she got lost because she was daydreaming about the handsome boy she met earlier, and for some reason Levy wasn't answering her calls [-_-] so she was really in distress; but then the very person who occupied her thoughts had run into her again when she was about to start panicking…

…this had to be fate!

"U-um, h-here let me help you up" said Gray after he finally got out of his inner thoughts.

Juvia stared at his hand for a moment before she finally registered what was going on. She blushed scarlet for being so ditzy then graciously accepted his hand.

She didn't know if it was just her mind playing tricks on her, but she could have sworn she felt a spark when she touched his hand.

Gray thought it was static electricity.

"A-arigato…" said Juvia when she was lifted up. She couldn't muster the courage to look him in the eyes, for fear of getting lost in them. Sigh, she really was a hopeless romantic.

"No sweat, so…um… not to be rude but… your lost… aren't you?" he asked curiously.

Juvia's face shot up and she looked at him with a shocked expression, her cheeks still red, only now she was embarrassed for a different reason, her mouth was wide open as well.

Gray realized then that he had hit the nail on the head and smirked at her expression, he thought it was kind of cute.

"Thought so" he said as he let go of her hand to place it in his pockets.

Juvia hung her head in shame and covered her face with her hands "J-Juvia is so embarrassed~" she whined.

Gray snickered a little; he then noticed that her uniform belonged to another school, and not just any school… but the same school that Laxus was currently having a problem with. His face showed shock for a second then changed back into his usual cool demeanor. [A/N: Tch, You and your damn poker face make it hard for all the Gruvia shippers out there! Get some emotion damn you! Sorry, that's my rant for the day… continue]

"Don't tell me… you came with the Mermaid Heel Archery team?" he asked cautiously.

"Eh? Ah well, J-Juvia's friend is subbing for one of the participants, and well… i-its actually a long story but, basically Juvia's just a supporter" she said not really wanting to go into detail about why she was there, afraid of sounding too strange in front of Gray.

"I-I see…" he said with a sweat drop, she seemed to be getting flustered for some reason which confused him. Suddenly a thought occurred to him.

"So, have you been to the archery dojo at all today?" he asked, she might have no idea about what was going on and he just wanted to make sure.

"Ah, n-no… J-Juvia kind of… wandered around and… t-took too many turns… and now cannot remember wh-where the stairs are" she answered shamefully, her head hanging down in shame, she wanted to die right there, she couldn't very well tell him that she was daydreaming about him the whole time since she ran into him and ended up so completely lost; that would definitely make her seem creepy! So instead she went for the 'I'm just an unfocused ditz approach' god, she really wanted to die.

"So then you have no idea about the big fight that's going on then, do you?" he asked.

"Eh? What fight?" she asked totally confused, but at the same time she was grateful he didn't fixate on her earlier response.

Gray let out a sigh and just started walking forward "You better come with me, that way it'll make things quicker" he said staring forward.

"Eh? Uh… um… o-okay" she said confused, but on the inside she was going completely crazy with excitement.

"Oh Juvia, I want to spend more time with you but I'm too shy to ask you directly, forgive my actions!" said a dreamy-looking Gray.

"Oh Gray-sama, Juvia doesn't mind at all, as long as your with Juvia nothing else matters!" said a dazed Juvia.

"Your so sweet and considerate, will you marry me!?" he asked while on one knee holding a bouquet of red roses.

"Yes! And we'll have 33 babies!" she screamed as she jumped into dreamy-Gray's arms.

Juvia was giggling like a school-girl, her face going completely red, and she was barely paying attention to where she was walking.

"So your name's Juvia right?" asked Gray.

Juvia immediately snapped out of her daze at the sound of Gray's voice and looked back at him while trying to calm her racing heart.

"Ah, y-yes that's-Kyaaaa!"

Juvia couldn't complete her sentence when she saw Gray taking off his shirt and tossing it to the ground. She immediately covered her eyes with her hands, but left a tiny gap to peep through, I mean you cant blame her the guy had 'washboard abs' for crying out loud.

"W-w-w-w-why did you take your shirt off!?" she yelled embarrassed.

"Huh? Ah crap not again!" yelled Gray when he noticed his bare chest was visible.

Juvia was slowly moving forward in an attempt to pick up his discarded shirt, while still trying to keep her eyes 'covered'.

"Sorry about that, it's a habit of mine" he said sheepishly trying to find his shirt.

Juvia then realized that Haru from 'Free!' also had a tendency to take his clothes off… of course he did it because there was a pool nearby not because it was a habit; this was too weird.

…On the other hand at least she got a free show

"Ah there it is" exclaimed Gray as he bent down to grab his shirt.

But at that time he didn't notice that Juvia had also grabbed his shirt and pulled it a little harder than he had, so he ended up falling on top of her.

"Wah!"

"Whoa!"

Gray tried to pick himself up and looked down at the girl under him.

"Sorry are you ok-Ahhhh!"

What Gray failed to realize was that while trying to pick himself up his hand had found its way to one of Juvias boobs… and he was 'unknowingly' groping her. His face was as red as Erza's hair at the moment.

Juvia was freaked out; this was the most humiliating thing she had ever experienced; which for her was really saying something. She should normally be angry that she was for the third time that day pushed to the ground, but all she could do was blush.

"It's not what you think I didn't mean to!" yelled Gray as he jumped up and removed his hand, backing away from her in embarrassment.

Juvia looked up at him from the ground, still too embarrassed to move.

"S-Sorry! I'm not some creepy pervert I swear!" he yelled, steam coming out of his ears.

Juvia was still blushing, but she felt less embarrassed now at seeing his blushing face, she couldn't help but think that he was really such a nice guy. She picked herself up from the floor and dusted herself off.

Gray noticed her standing up and tried to fix this now really embarrassing situation he had caused "Look, lets just forget that happened ok?" he asked shyly.

[A/N: You all know where I got this from ^3^]

Juvia just nodded her head, he eyes fixed to the ground.

"Ok then, l-lets keep going" said Gray as he continued to go forward, he unconsciously stared at his hand but when he realized it he shoved it in his pocket and tried to forget what he had just done.

"A-ano…J-Juvia wanted to ask before… um… where are we going… exactly?" she asked nervously.

Gray let out a sigh, one of relief that she was at least comfortable enough to at least talk to him again, and one of annoyance that he got stuck with this job coz of Erza.

"Getting backup"


"Uuuum… are you sure this is the archery dojo?" asked Jellal questioningly.

"This is where it's supposed to be, but it looks like a 'King of the Ring' wrestling match to me, what in the hell got this started?" asked Ultear who was in shock.

Here she was looking forward to embarrassing and blackmailing her little brother only to have her whole plan go up in smoke coz someone decided to start a brawl.

But then again this IS Fairy Tail Academy; she really shouldn't be so surprised.

"Oh man and I was so looking forward to making my brother miserable!" she whined while kicking the dirt on the floor.

"Uhm, should we try and stop them? It looks like its getting a little too out of hand" said Jellal while pointing at the crowd of fighting people; he was also wondering why she was so relaxed about seeing this whole thing.

"Its better to not get involved in a Fairy Tail brawl, trust me" said Ultear as she waved off his idea to help. "And besides this'll all blow over the second the Student Council President arrives anyway, so it'll just be a waste of time to even try" she said with a huff while crossing her arms.

"You know I still have a hard time believing that this president is crueler than you, just who is she anyway?" he asked genuinely curious.

"Oh yeah I never told you her name, she's kinda famous around here, you may have heard of her when you lived here previously, its-"

"I will not let you defeat me Erza Scarlet!"

"I've had enough of your childish nonsense Kagura!"

Recognition shined in Jellal's eyes and he immediately turned his attention away from Ultear and looked towards the two individuals whose fight seemed to be more intense than the rest.

"Erza…?"

"Well how about that, turns out she's already involved in the fight, and by the looks of it she's having a hard time dealing with that girl over there" said Ultear with an amused look in her eyes. She failed to notice the look of pure shock on Jellal's face when he saw the red-haired girl.

"Your one to talk Titania, even after all these years you still defend that boy! How long will it take for you to grow up and face the truth!" yelled Kagura.

They had long since stopped pulling hair and scaled up their fight to a full-on martial arts battle, each landing powerful blows on each other and a few near misses.

Erza was getting fed up with Kagura, actually she was more upset with herself for allowing herself to get provoked so easily, and now that she had some time to cool her head she wanted to end this petty fight before even bigger problems occurred.

"That's enough now Kagura, I can't do this anymore, we're not kids and I think its time to let it go" said Erza as she dropped her fists to her sides and gave Kagura a tired look.

Kagura just got even more angry, she stomped up to Erza and grabbed her by the collar "You have no right to tell me to let it go, it was all his fault and I wont rest until you admit it!" she yelled.

Erza placed her hand on top of Kagura's gently, which shocked her, and she sent her a sympathetic look "Would that really make you happy, because I don't think it will. Because no matter what I say it won't change anything" she said.

Kagura growled in anger and held onto her collar even tighter.

"And besides, if you don't stop this fight Milliana will be sad, she's already crying in the corner in case you haven't noticed" said Erza as she turned her head to where Milliana was.

Kagura snapped out of her rage for a second and turned to look at her younger sister, who was indeed crying in a corner; she was in a fetal position with her hands covering her head and her knees up to her chest, tears were streaming down her face and she was whimpering at the sounds she heard.

She looked absolutely terrified.

Kagura released her hold on Erza and stepped back a bit to try and compose herself, Erza smoothed down her collar and looked back at Kagura.

"I'll let it go this time Scarlet, for Milliana's sake" said Kagura with a scowl.

Erza just nodded her head, knowing that she really couldn't say anything else to her even if she wanted to.

"Erza?"

Erza and Kagura turned to the person who just spoke and both their eyes widened in shock, a bead of sweat rolling down their brows. Only Erza managed to say something.

"J-Jellal?"

"LAXUS! WHAT IN THE HELL HAVE YOU GONE AND DONE THIS TIME!"

Everyone in the dojo immediately stopped moving and turned their heads slowly to the voice that just boomed at them. And sure enough they saw the headmaster of Fairy Tail Academy; Makarov.

Along with two other students standing behind him who were in complete shock at seeing such a huge mess.

"Oh there you are Gray!"

"Nee-chan!?"


[A/N: Ok I was honestly going to end it here but I thought Nalu fans would be disappointed, so your welcome XD]

"Eeek! That's freezing!" yelled Lucy clutching her ankle.

"Well it's supposed to be cold, it's an ice pack, and it's the best thing for a swollen ankle so stop complaining" said Natsu as he held the ice pack to Lucy's ankle.

They were currently in the infirmary treating Lucy's twisted ankle, she was sitting on one of the beds while Natsu pulled a chair up in front of the bed to help treat her injury.

"Ok" she said as she gave in and stopped complaining, at least the pain was going away.

Natsu was just grateful that Nurse Bob wasn't there, he was every guys nightmare, and Makarov's best strategy to stop the guys from pretending to be sick and miss class, and if they really did have to see the nurse they would avoid it as much as possible until Erza dragged them there.

"Um thanks by the way"

Natsu was pulled out of his thoughts by Lucy's sweet and sincere voice, he looked up to see her face and noticed that she was blushing; he thought it was insanely cute and innocent.

"Oh don't worry about it, I couldn't just leave you in that battle royal like that, I wouldn't be able to call myself a guy if I did that" he said with a smile.

Lucy gave him a heartwarming smile that made his heart beat faster, it was like looking at the grace of an angel, he felt his face heating up and decided to focus his attention back on her ankle so that she didn't see the blush he was sure was on his cheeks.

Lucy suddenly remembered what her friends had told her about Natsu, and how he was just a thug who beat people up and toyed with girls, but, she just couldn't see that in Natsu, either they were talking about the wrong person or the rumors about him were ridiculously exaggerated.

But then again there really couldn't be that many people who had pink hair and a scaly looking scarf around.

"You know… I've actually heard a few rumors about you for the past few days" she said cautiously.

Natsu flinched, he knew the kinds of rumors about him that were out there, and of all people to hear them it had to be her? There was even one about how he played around with girls and had multiple hook-ups on a regular basis; of course anybody who really knew him would know that that was a big fat lie, in fact he hasn't even kissed a girl before, not that he would ever say that out loud, he just didn't care enough about that kind of stuff, or care about it at all. The only things on his mind were food and fighting and he was ok with that.

…Until Lucy came into his life that is, now the things on his mind were food, fighting and Lucy. So finding out that she had heard the rumors about him he was afraid that she would think of him badly.

"Oh really, so what have you heard?" he asked feigning curiosity, inside he was worried that she would snap at him about them.

"Well… my friends told me that your more commonly referred to as Salamander for some reason, I don't get it but each to his own I guess…"

Natsu chuckled a little; at least it was starting off ok.

"… then something about how you get into fights on a regular basis…"

Natsu cringed, ok, so that one was true, but he only got into fights when he was provoked; which was surprisingly easy to do.

"…and then another one about how you're some kind of delinquent who doesn't show up to class…"

What! Great now she thinks he's a delinquent… well he kind of is but he goes to class, if he didn't not only would his mom and dad literally beat him to a bloody pulp, but he would have Erza to worry about as well! The pain was not worth missing a few days of school.

"… um, and one about your friends being Yankees or something…?"

… Well, what could he say about that? Gray and Gajeel definitely fit in that category… and Erza was violent enough to as well… guess that one was dead on, but that doesn't mean that they aren't good people! Ugh, did he just unconsciously defend Gray and Gajeel?

"… and then I heard about how you apparently play around with girls feelings and leave them out to dry…"

Natsu felt like his soul was leaving his body, she heard… she had heard the very rumor he wished she didn't hear; now she surely thought he was some kind of player, god he hoped she would at least give him a chance to explain.

"… but you know what?" she asked with a smile.

He raised a brow at her, why… was she smiling at him? Surely she was angry about what she heard about him, wasn't she?

"The Natsu that I know… is a much nicer person than the one from the rumors"


[A/N: Sorry but this is where I'm ending it for now, I'm tired and just really desperate to upload this chapter. Anyway… I hope you guys all loved that I included some Gruvia, Jerza(not really but it'll get there) and a slight inclusion of Gale. But mostly the NALU! ALL HAIL NALU!

PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW, AND YES I MEAN YOU! THE PERSON CONTEMPLATEING WHETHER OR NOT TO REVIEW! I DON'T CARE IF ITS JUST ONE WORD; LEAVE IT THERE IN THE BOX AND REVIEW! HAHA, HOPE YOU LIKED IT! XD ]