It was about four thirty in the afternoon by the time the training was over, and Lucy groggily walked into her room. Levy was on her bed and looked up from her book when Lucy entered. "Oh, hey Lu - Oh, Mavis, are you okay?"

Lucy slowly nodded, collapsing on her own bed with a moan. A deep ache was stinging in muscles she didn't know she had, and she knew it would be worse when she woke up the next day. The training had been basic, but long, exhausting, and full of motions that Lucy wasn't used to.

Levy looked ever the more concerned. "Seriously, what's wrong? You look totally beat."

"Started ninjitsu training," Lucy said, voice muffled by her pillow, "with Natsu."

"Oh Mavis, you're not okay." Levy scrambled over and sat next to her roommate. "Natsu started teaching you himself?"

"Yeah," sighed Lucy, turning over to face her friend. "I don't think my body was made to do some of the things he can do."

"No kidding! I'm a brown belt and it's freaky how intense that guy is. What did he have you do?"

"Meditated. Stretched. Ran. He wanted me to run for twenty minutes straight, full speed."

"There's no way I could do that," Levy scoffed. "That boy can be insane. Did you do it?"

"Of course not. I worked him down to a jog." Lucy rubbed her eyes. "Then a bunch of positions that I don't remember and evasive maneuvers and disarming…" Lucy listed off. "Then we hit the punching bags."

"Master went easier on me in the beginning, but it still made me pretty sore," Levy said sympathetically. "I wonder why Natsu's starting you like this…"

Lucy opened her eyes quizzically. "Didn't Master tell Natsu to train me or something?"

Levy shook her head. "Master always trains us himself. He waits a month or two to let you settle in before he confronts you about how much you want to learn. I don't know why Natsu's training you. He's never trained anyone before."

Sitting up, Lucy leaned in. "Seriously? Then why in the world is he…? And I was thinking he must have trained a bunch of people before…"

Levy raised an eyebrow. "Was he a good teacher? I wouldn't think he could pull it off."

"While the running thing was a bit excessive," Lucy said, "he… actually was a great teacher. Really encouraging, and dang, did he know his stuff. I had to ask for definitions of all his terms a bunch of times, but he told me, and he was very patient."

Setting her back against the wall, Levy shook her head wonderingly. "He really acts different around you, Lu. Calmer, I guess. He's always been easygoing, but hyper, distracted, restless. Around you he's… not. What did you do to that boy?"

"I didn't do anything!" Lucy squeaked. "I think he still is all those things."

"If you think he is now, it's nothing to how he was before. I think you're good for him to have around," She smirked. "No wonder he said he'd keep you."

"W-where did you hear about that?!" Lucy demanded, wondering how in the world that embarrassing conversation had gotten out.

"I'm sworn to secrecy," Levy whispered, smirk growing ever the wider. "Sorry."

Lucy sat up straight. "That reminds me! I have information regarding Operation BC!"

Levy gasped excitedly, leaning in. "What is it?"

"Apparently, at the meeting, they were discussing, I quote, 'feelings and a sixth rite'. Rite as in 'r-i-t-e'," Lucy revealed, grasping her quilt. "What do you think it means?"

"No idea… what was your source?"

"Sworn to secrecy," Lucy said, a slow smirk stretched on her face as she leaned back against the wall with her hands behind her head. "I told this anonymous person that I wouldn't tell anyone that they told me the information, not that I wouldn't tell the information."

Levy giggled. "Natsu, wasn't it?"

Lucy hugged Plue and laughed. "Can't tell you! But this source told me that he or she would be punished if the boys found out that he or she had told me, so don't go spouting this info to any boys or girls that would tell one of the boys."

Levy nodded. "Definitely Natsu."

The two girls spent the next hour or two just reading. Levy was into some poem book in some freaky language that confirmed Levy's smarts to Lucy, while Lucy delved deep into the Fairy Tail history book that she'd gotten the night before.

Lucy barely spared any surprised reaction when Natsu swung into the window, cat clutched in his right hand. "Hi, Lucy! Hi, Levy."

"Levy, I think we should invest in a window doorbell," Lucy said, looking back down to her book and turning a page. "Hey, Natsu."

"I'm beginning to agree," Levy said, amused. "Evening, Natsu."

Without further comment, the boy jumped with all fours onto Lucy's bed, causing his cat to yawl and Lucy to lose her page. Hair spiky and pink as ever, he was wearing a black t-shirt with a My Chemical Romance insignia printed across the front and a pair of black, white washed jeans, apparently seeming to own normal clothes, other than his ever-present scarf, which was wrapped securely around his neck twice. His feet were bare. And Lucy unconsciously noticed that he rocked normal clothes as well as his vest and white pants. "Heya! Thought I'd check on ya. How're you feeling? You looked pretty tired after today's training."

Lucy searched for her page with a frown. She'd usually get very distracted by the fact that he'd come just to check on her, but when reading, Lucy was sent to a different dimension in which the real world didn't come into focus until about ten minutes after her reading session. "I'm doing better, thanks. How're you?"

"I'm hungry," he answered, hopping up and down on his knees on her mattress. "Let's go get dinner!"

Trying to blink her way out of her reading-induced limbo, she met his dark eyes. They were a strange color. She guessed the right word was oynx, but there was a distinct tint of green, gold, and red altogether. They were much deeper than the boy himself seemed. She blinked again. "Food. Oh, right." Lucy had been so engrossed in her book that she'd completely forgotten about eating.

She met Levy's brown eyes questioningly from across the room, silently asking if she wanted to go to dinner, but Levy's eyes were filled with amusement as she watched Natsu continue to bounce up and down on Lucy's bed in excitement.

Lucy looked back to Natsu's eager face, and broke out into a smile. "Okay. Let's go eat!" But then her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You don't have some whole freaking diet planned out for me too, do you?"

"Whaaat?" Natsu scoffed, jumping off of her bed with his cat perched over his goggles on his head. "I don't care what you eat. And if it's about the calories, well, you'll just burn 'em all off anyway!"

Groaning at the thought of further exercise, Lucy let Natsu coax her and Levy down to dinner, where he just ran off to fight Gray and Elfman anyway.

Levy and Lucy stuck together after they'd filled up their plates at the buffet, and then slid in beside Bisca and Alzack, who were currently discussing new gun models. Lucy figured the dreamy looks in their eyes were either from thinking about the guns or each other, because they looked adorable together.

"Hi Bisca, Alzack!" Lucy greeted, still proud that she'd remembered his name, and Levy offered a 'hello' as well.

"Hey, Lucy!" Bisca answered cheerfully.

Alzack, on the other hand, glanced up. "Oh, hi, Natsu's girl."

Lucy dropped the fork she'd just picked up. "What did you just call me?!"

Backing up almost as if scared, he muttered, "N-Natsu's girl. Is something wrong? What did I do?"

"I-I'm not - what… Why did you call me that?" Lucy stuttered out.

"That's just… you're Natsu's girl," Alzack said, frowning and seeming confused as to why she was confused.

"I am not!" Lucy protested, Levy and Bisca laughing their guts out off to the side. "What's that supposed to mean?! Am I his slave or something?!"

"N-no," Alzack said fearfully. "I guess… It's a guy thing. Section two, article two. I-It doesn't mean anything."

Lucy moaned, slamming her forehead against the table. And because he tended to have the worst timing possible, Natsu decided that then would be a good time to slide in next to her. "Why are you hitting your head, Luce? That's pretty dumb."

She rolled her eyes. "I blame you."

Natsu's eyes widened. "W-what? What did I do now?!"

Levy decided to bring the actual situation to light. "She's embarrassed, because Alzack just called her 'Natsu's girl'."

He stared at Levy, then Alzack, then Lucy. "Oh." Red rose to his cheeks. "Oh, that." He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, earning a glare from Lucy, who was still blaming him. "Um, Alzack, maybe you shouldn't call her that, like, right to her face. She's pretty freaky with that whip."

"G-got it," Alzack confirmed, getting up and murmuring something about really needing to pee.

Lucy's fists clenched as she looked up at Natsu. He was about a head taller, but she refused to let this keep her from intimidating him. "Oh, not right to my face, huh? But it's okay for him to call me that behind my back?"

Natsu shrugged, cheeks still pink. He looked the other way. "Sure. I don't see why it'd be a problem. Who cares?"

"I care!" Lucy insisted, pounding her small fist on the table. "It sounds like you own me or something!"

"I think it's kinda cute," Bisca whispered. Levy nodded in agreement.

"It's not!"

Natsu, to her utmost irritation, shrugged again, using her fork to take bites off of her plate. "Everyone knows that no one could own someone like you, Luce. So don't worry about it."

"You're saying you don't mind them calling me that?!"

"Nah, I don't care," he said simply, shoving more into his mouth.

Lucy gave him the most deadly glare she could conjure, causing Natsu to slowly back away, mouth full, and take off running to the bar. Lucy breathed out deeply, putting her face in her hands and wondering how she was going to survive as a teammate with this guy.

It was a week and a half when Lucy came back from her first job with Natsu. He'd kicked the door open again, dropping Happy into Lucy's hands as he ran off to hang out with the other guys. Lucy dragged herself up to the bar, plopping onto a stool and setting the cat on the counter. Resting her head in her arms, she let out a small, restrained, mouth-closed scream.

Mira stopped by her, looking concerned. "Glad you're back safe, Lucy. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I guess so…"

"Hey, Luce," came Natsu's voice from the background. "Wanna go train?"

"HELL NO, PYRO," Lucy shouted back instantly

Natsu rolled his eyes. "Geez cool your jets, Miss Gray incarnate!"

"SAYS MISTER 'WHY BEAT UP THE BAD GUYS WHEN I CAN BURN DOWN THE WHOLE TOWN?'!"

"SAYS MISS KILLJOY."

"SAYS THE GUY THAT CLEARLY ONLY TAUGHT ME SELF DEFENSE SO THAT I COULD DEFEND MYSELF FROM YOU!"

"I WOULD NEVER HURT YOU!"

"OH YEAH? TELL THAT TO THE BURNING BUILDING THAT ALMOST FELL ON ME IF I HADN'T BEEN PULLED OUT BY A VERY KIND GENTLEMAN ON THE STREET!"

"WHO IS THIS GUY? I'M GONNA BEAT HIM UP!"

"HE SAVED MY LIFE, YOU IDIOT!"

"YEAH - HE STOLE MY JOB!"

"OH, SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY, NATSU DRAGNEEL."

"MAKE ME, LUCY- wait, what is your last name?"

"UGH!"

Mirajane gushed, "You two are so cute!"

Natsu and Lucy both turned on her. "SHUT UP!"

Hehe, hey darlin's,

Whaddya think of the chapter? If Natsu's gonna protect her, maybe a good step would be to stop playing with fire... I'm sorry, they're adorable. Like, too adorable. Stuff me in an ice cream box.

So I lied. Didn't have the chance to post this one Wednesday. But here it is now! I know, it's a short chapter, but I didn't feel like cutting it. I am doing volunteer work with family now, but I am writing a lot! I won't get to use internet much, so I dunno when I can post next. But anyway...

Reviewers!

Guest :0): It is, now that I think about it. I dunno. It's just what Wisconsin people say. Thank you! I hope you like this one!

LucyDragneelFT23: HORAY! Ah, I'll have several other referring-to-manga/anime lines in here, so stay tuned! They're just the most adorable thing, right? I mean, just the fanart alone...

The Baka: Thanks! I try to keep them fun, and I'm glad you like it. Hope you continue to enjoy!

Guest: :D Thank you!

Disney lovers 101: Ugh, yeah, I admit, Lucy was me in gym class. They ran us until some of the football guys threw up. (Because they were trying to impress, and I was trying to just stay alive.) Thank you! Like his idea of training?

I'm writing chapter 13 now... hehehehe

Mizpah,

~LoneStorm