Ok, next chapter coming up! I'm surprised you guys haven't figured anything about Izuma yet :D You'll all see soon enough, I think... Ah well. Let's got on with the chapter!
Natsu woke up in the bed he had shared with Mirajane. Opening his eyes slowly, he could see the spot next to him was empty. Stretching his arms and removing the sleep from his eyes. He managed to crawl out of bed and get dressed. Since no one had awoken him, he assumed it was about 11am. Descending down the stairs, he could see Mirajane at the table awaiting what smelled like breakfast.
"Ah, there you are! How'd you sleep?" This question made Natsu think about something. He had noticed how since Lisanna was gone, Mirajane had acted more openly and friendlier to people in general. She was changing from the tomboy she had always been into a kind and gentle woman.
'I hope it's not puberty.' The boy thought to himself. The take over mage noticed his absence.
"Natsu? I'm right here, what're you thinking about?" The pink haired boy's thoughts came back to him as he looked at Mirajane.
"Oh, sorry. Nothing important, I slept well. I hope you weren't too warm." He grinned. The girl chuckled.
"Of course not, you're always the right temperature." The boy moved his hands behind his head as he moved towards his seat.
"Is he cooking?" He wondered. Mirajane nodded, much to the boy's surprised.
"What's wrong with a man being able to cook? You do too, don't you?" She spoke. Natsu nodded and explained.
"I just didn't see that in him. It's not like we've known eachother for long or anything but cooking just wasn't my first impression of him." Mirajane stared at him for a little bit, the boy got kind of nervous at this.
"You're so bad at reading people." She chuckled. The fire mage intensified his look.
"Oh, so you knew it all along, huh?" He pouted. Recieving a gentle kiss on his cheek from the girl next to him.
"Of course I knew, you doubt me?" She pouted with a cute voice. Natsu of course immediatly felt bad.
"No, I don't. But, you ... Like ... I... Damn ... I don't owe you an explenation!" He repliad fiercely, turning his back to Mirajane. She giggled at how the dragon slayer responded.
"You're so cute when you're annoyed." The fire mage turned again, looking at her smiling, beautiful face. He couldn't hold back and straight out hugged her tightly. The girl naturally returned the hug. Izuma entered the room at that given moment (someone had to break them up, right?).
"Uh ... Am I interrupting?" Their faces started to blush at the sound of his voice. Both returned to their normal sitting position, red still covering their cheeks.
"Well, just build up your strength. This food will help with that, at least for Natsu." A beautiful, hot, intense flame was shoved towards him. After some time they could be found in a park nearby, sitting cross legged in front of eachother.
"Naturally, the first part of your training is to build up your energy and to prepare your magical power for the techniques I'll teach you." Izuma spoke.
"This is pretty much the only part that will benefit the take over mage as well, after that it's techniques that only you will be able to use, Natsu." He explained. After 3 hours of meditating Izuma broke the silence once again.
"Ok, that's enough for now. We'll continue for 2 more hours later, you're free to do whatever you want until then." The couple awoke from their trance. Smiling at eachother, they walked off while holding hands. They didn't know where they were going, but they were going together. He could only growl at every man they passed that was looking or talking perverted about Mirajane. Mirajane herself found it quite amusing to see her overprotective boyfriend do that.
"You're so cute when you're overprotective." She chuckled, Natsu looked over at her with a surprised look in his eyes.
"But they're talking perverted crap about you! My actions are completely justified!" The pink haired dragon slayer pouted, recieving a giggle from the girl with him.
"Maybe you're just cute in general." She stated. The boy raised his chin with pride at this.
"Of course I am! Did you think otherwise?" She couldn't stop smiling at the boy.
"Nope, but now you know too." She replied, he smiled back at her. They just wandered through the town, tasting the local meals, taking part in the local activities. Basically, doing what the local couples would do. After not too long they returned to where they were staying at the time to continue meditating for 2 more hours before they went to bed. They had spent most of their day together and were happy with the time they were given. The next day wouldn't be the same though, after breakfast they were located at the same spot as the day before.
"Today, we're going to try to unlock something Natsu. We're going to give you access to something similar to the twin dragon's white and shadow drive, only way stronger." The words sounded like music in Natsu's ears (This is not actually the fire drive, it's based off the thing he pulled in chapter 6 with the bandits).
"The first step to using this technique is to control your body with fire." Natsu took a thinking pose.
"I think I've already done that, Mirajane had helped me with that." the dragon slayer spoke.
"Oh, really? That makes things that much easier. I assume you're able to control the flames surrounding you to your benefit then?" Natsu nodded, Izuma continued.
"You'll have to let flames become your body, you're going to be a living flame." He explained. The couple looked wide-eyes at him.
"This isn't going to be achieved in a simple day, it will take time before you will be able to use it even once." Natsu nodded as he stood up.
"So how do I do it then?" He asked Izuma with a serious tone.
"Boy, you really are energetic aren't you? First, I want you to summon those flames around you. You're going to spend a lot of time trying to fuse with those flames, got it?" The adult asked.
"Understood, I'll just be over at that open spot with no trees surrounding it. Mirajane, I don't know how long this is going to take. You'll be fine, right?" Mirajane chuckled.
"Don't you worry about me when you're the one doing the actual work." The pink haired boy nodded as he walked over to the spot he would be sitting for quite some time.
"Can he really do that?" The silver haired take over mage asked Izuma.
"I believe he can. After all, he's the son of the almighty Igneel." He replied with an arrogant tone in his voice. Mirajane raised an eyebrow at this but just left it as it was. She left to go shop for some supplies, she'd be making dinner tonight. It would be the same dinner she had cooked for Natsu the first time, the dinner Lisanna had taught her to make.
Natsu sat down in a cross legged position, summoning his flames around him. He frowned as his muscles tensed up. He was obviously trying hard to do something he wasn't even sure how to do. He imagined eating the flames that Igneel roared at him when he was younger. His skin was clenching onto the flames around his body. Slowly but surely, the flames were clenching to his body. In his thoughts, those flames were his father's. He wanted to have those flames close to him, to feel their warmth. The fire took a liking to the boy's body as it slowly started to burn closer to him. After about an hour, the boy was pulled out his trance. He opened what used to be his eyes. Natsu looked down at his body, which wasn't exactly his body anymore. His body had the same properties as fire, he wasn't made of flesh and blood anymore. He WAS fire. He stood up on the flames the were supposed to be his legs and made his way to Izuma. Mirajane was with him just talking about some stuff. Both turned to look at the fire dragon slayer in shock. Izuma was the most surprised.
"A-Already?! I didn't think you'd do it in the week!" He yelled. A fiery grin appeared on Natsu's fire face.
"I guess I'm just talented." He chuckled, brining his arms behind his head. He then got a weird expression on his face and roared in pain.
"Yeah ... Talented. Don't worry it's normal, for the first time." Izuma explained. Natsu fainted as his flames subsided to make place for his normal body.
"Is he going to be ok?" A worried Mirajane asked, rushing to his unconscious body.
"Yeah. Like I said, it's normal for the first time. We just gotta let him rest and restore his magic energy, you have no idea how much that technique takes out of it's user." He replied. A sigh of relief could be heard from the take over mage.
"I don't think you should worry, I know I wouldn't if I had someone like you to take care of me." He laughed, Mirajane smiled at the compliment. Natsu was dragged inside by the two of them and left on his bed. He was snoring like he usually was when sleeping, it comforted Mirajane to hear that snoring. She placed herself next to him in the bed and drifted off to sleep.
"M-Mira? What happened yesterday?" She heared a certain dragon slayer moan next to him. She turned around to see Natsu sit up straight, rubbing the back of his head.
"Your oh so talented self fainted at the lack of magical energy." She chuckled. The boy's face was facing downwards.
"Hey! I wanna see you doing it, then we'll talk." The pink haired boy pouted. Both headed to the kitched for breakfast.
"So, you recovered?" Izuma asked, 3 meals were already on the table.
"For the most part, what happened there?" Natsu asked the red haired man.
"Boy, you have no idea how much that takes out of you. Especially after spending so much energy trying to get it done. What I'm interested in is how you go it done so fast." Izuma replied.
"I don't know. I just closed my eyes, thinking about Igneels's flames. When I opened them, I was like that." The pink haired boy explained.
"I see, so it was your father's flames. You're definitely an amazing boy, Natsu." Izuma laughed.
"Thanks .. I guess." The dragon slayer spoke. All of them finished breakfast and moved to the park again.
"Ok, try to do it again. It'll go much better than the second time, trust me." Natsu did as he was told and engulfed himself in the flames he was about to become. His body fused with the flames slowly and after about 2 minutes he had done what he was asked.
"Good, the first thing I'll have you do is a mobility technique that goes by the name of Flame Dash. As the name implies, you're just going to let flames overtake your body to achieve maximum speed. After tomorrow you'll be able to do a similar thing even stealthfully." Izuma spoke. Natsu nodded and looked straight at one point in front of him, marking it as his destination. The flames his body now was intensified. More flames grew out of the already existing ones as a stream flowed out of his body, the entirety of Natsu's body followed soon at a speed their eyes had trouble to comprehend.
"Haha, great job kiddo! You're a natural!" Izuma cheered. Natsu turned around with a grin on his face.
"With the properties of flames, do you think you could do that same through a solid object? Try to pass through the tree over there." Izuma pointed at one of the many trees surrounding them. Natsu tried to regain his focus, staring at the tree marked as an obstacle. His flames rushed to the tree and disappated at the contact. These flames were reconstructed behind the tree.
"And right off the bat, you got the basics for tomorrow down. I think I might just teach you today, looking at how you're doing." Mirajane stared in amazement at Natsu's fiery body.
"You've learned how to change the properties of your flames, correct? Now that your entire body is made of flames, how do you think you could use that to your advantage? You're going to have to be able to change the properties of the flames that are now your body if you actually want to be able to deal damage, since as of right now your flames aren't solid. Say for example you'd be facing a swordsman, they wouldn't be able to damage you. Their sword would go straight through you and you wouldn't feel a thing. But you also can't perform blunt attacks like punching, since your flames would just go through their body. But naturally you can still do damage. So ... Try to make your flames the solid ones you have always punched with, then strike the tree." Izuma ordered.
Natsu focused for a little. Changing the properties of his flames have always been second nature to him, but now he was changing the properties of his own body. After just a little bit of focusing and feeling his body harden, he turned to punch the tree. The roots were loosened from the ground as the tree went flying. In mid-air it turned to ash and flew off with the wind.
Mirajane stared in awe at the power Natsu had shown. Izuma grinned at the boy's progress that he could never have predicted. Izuma informed Natsu that he could stop for today as the boy transformed back to his regular form. Mirajane and Natsu went off to spend some time together in the city.
'You really are amazing, Natsu. Why weren't you like that as a kid?' Izuma thought. Leaving to the house he owned.
2 Years Later
"I've had a great time watching you grow into a fine lady, Mirajane. And Natsu, you've surprised everyone with the progress you've made. I'm sure not much people could go through what you went. I'm sure we'll meet again in the future. This is not a farewell, but a goodbye." Izuma spoke to the younger two before him. The two nodded and spoke their goodbyes as they left off to return to their home, the city of Magnolia, the guild of Fairy Tail.
'You've become a fine man, my boy. Let's hope Makarov will take better care of you from now on.' Igneel thought as he returned to his dragon form and flew off towards a close mountain.