Pssssssttt. Soooo last chapter, like it? Hate it?
I only got one review lol, so hopefully that means…well, idk actually.
But hey that one review got my ass in gear! Thanks for the encouragement, Chibialexz! (:
Also, just want to clarify another thing- no one has said anything but my goal for this story is to really develop Lucy's character. I want her to find her strength along the journey, she may seem kinda wimpy right now (which I so do not think she is in general! I loved her from the beginning bro), but just stay tuned. She's gonna come back tenfold (:
...but then everything changed when the fire nation atta- SORRY. I'll stop.
"Natsu, I'm sorry…" She knew there was nothing she could say to take away the pain of losing a parent. Since her mom had passed away, a permanent, uncurable, empty hole had nested inside her. "Were you guys close?" She asked softly.
Natsu shrugged, "S'okay. Yeah…I mean, I think we were." He thought for a moment, "It's just…he just disappeared so suddenly. It was a bit weird." Natsu shared a glance with Lucy, studying her expression, "I'm positive he's still out there though. He wasn't the type of guy that'd just up and leave me. I'll find him one day."
He didn't speak with sorrow or grief, but there was a spark of determination and longing.
"There's no leads at all on his whereabouts?" Lucy asked.
"Nope. None." His shoulders shook with mild laughter, "Not such a great start, huh?"
"Don't give up." She encouraged, "If you think he's still out there, keep looking…" Lucy took a deep breath before she continued, "I lost my mom when I was little, I'd do anything to have her back. If she was just missing, I'd do everything in my power to find her."
Natsu turned his whole attention to Lucy, "I'm really sorry, Lucy," he spoke softly, "I will find him, one day soon."
Lucy felt a smile creep across her face, "Good. You know, the reason I got a job at the Harold is because I've always felt closer to my mom when I write. It's what became a sort of outlet for me when she passed away."
Natsu perked up, "I feel the same way! With boxing, I mean. It's like he's right there with me."
"We've both got a special connection to them then. I'm glad."
They both smiled at each other, there was a moment of silence before Natsu directed his gaze in front of him.
"You're right, that connection is almost like an anchor..." Natsu shifted forward to push himself up from the couch, the half noodle still in hand, "Not only that, but everyone here at Fairy Tail keeps me going."
Lucy watched as he hovered in front of the couch, he swung the noodle to rest on his shoulder as he peered down at her with a curious smile. The look on his face made her furrow her brow.
"Annnnnd, since you are now a friend of Fairy Tail, it's my job to teach ya a brief demonstration of what we learn here."
Lucy blinked, "Huh?"
"Stand up," He gestured for her to follow his example, "I'm gonna show you some quick basics of how we learn boxing here at Fairy Tail!"
Her eyes widened, "You're joking."
"Nope!" He gave a cheeky grin in response to her panicked face.
"What! No, Natsu…I really can-,"
WHAP!
Lucy flinched at the sound of the noodle slapping his thigh. Natsu chuckled at her finicky reaction before he spoke again, "Better not finish that sentence, Lucy. Better not say that word that starts with 'C' and ends in 'ANT'." Natsu shook his head with disapproval.
Lucy leant back against the couch in rebellion, "Guess there's a first time for everything."
As strange as it sounded, she'd never actually tried boxing before. Ever. That had always been her dad's thing. His number one priority. She knew she would never had been able to be on a competitive team under her father's thumb. So, no, she'd never put a boxing glove on before. And hell no, she was not about to embarrass herself.
Natsu huffed like a child, "Aww c'mon, Lucy! Please? It's actually an experiment of sorts. I just want to see something…I'm curious." He tried to encourage her with another arm gesture and his all too pleading eyes.
Damn it, he's convincing.
She huffed out a sigh as she slowly rose from the couch, "If you laugh…"
"I won't."
"You better not break that promise."
"Need me to pinky promise?"
"Are you a twelve-year-old?"
His eyes twinkled with excitement, "We're all good then! Okay, stand in front of me, place your two feet lined up with your shoulders."
She did as he instructed.
"Okay, good." Natsu mimicked her position to demonstrate, "Now take your dominant side...are you right or lefthanded?"
"Right…"
"'Kay, move your right leg back a little ways like mine…yeah, that's good. Okay now, squat a little in your legs and then twist your to where you aren't squared facing me."
Natsu turned his torso slightly, waiting for Lucy to mimic him.
"That looks good," he encouraged, "last thing, bring up your hands like this."
Natsu dropped the noodle on the ground next to him. He brought up his tight fists and held them in front of his face.
Lucy slowly brought her hands up; the feeling of insecurity was rising, and she was starting to feel like a fake. Just standing in this position felt like a joke to her. She wasn't a strong person…
Lucy almost jumped when she felt two warm hands grab hold of her wrists, Lucy's eyes darted to Natsu's.
He hadn't noticed her startlement, so he continued to observe her position, "Good, now keep a firm lock on your arms, right...here." Upon adjusting her hand position, his firm hands released their grip.
Natsu took a step back to look at her, his brows drew together in thought.
She wanted to scream at him she didn't want to do this, she felt so silly.
"N-Natsu, I really can't…I mean, I'm not…" Her confidence fell along with her hands.
His forehead creased in confusion at her words, "You're not what?"
Damn, she really did not want to say it out loud.
"I'm not a strong person, okay? I just kinda feel…stupid." She mentally groaned at how ridiculous that sounded out loud.
The corner of Natsu's mouth quirked up, "Not this again," he started laughing.
"H-Hey! Stop! I'm being serious!"
"Lu-Lucy," he tried to catch his breath, "I'm not laughing at you, I swear. I'm laughing at how weird your thinking is."
"What!" she glared at the guy in front of her…who was still holding the noodle…
Lucy reached out to swipe the object from his hand; catching him off guard.
His eyes grew wide as she swung the stolen weapon at him. A sharp, sideward slash to his arm made him yelp, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?"
"Oh please, that did not hurt." Lucy's expression turned cold.
"Still wasn't necessary!" He griped.
"YOU LAUGHED," she was on the verge of fuming at this whole situation, so she took a deep breath, "…at me."
Natsu's expression relaxed, he paused before speaking softly, "I promise I was not laughing at you. You say you're not strong? Well, I say you're wrong."
"How would you know…" Her words didn't have bite in them.
"Don't you remember?" He snorted at her sulking expression, "We've had this talk already."
"I don't know."
"You…don't remember? Or you don't know if you agree with me?"
Lucy's eyes flickered up at him, unsure of what to say. Mostly because she didn't have an answer. He must have read her expression, so he moved on, "Let's keep going…. I won't laugh anymore," he stepped closer to her with kind eyes as he reached out his hand, silently asking her to trust him, "just relax, and be confident."
Lucy nodded reluctantly as she handed over the noodle in surrender.
"Alright."
"Good girl." He grinned wide, "Okay…go back into your stance with your hands up in position."
Lucy rolled her eyes but did as he asked. Once in position Natsu began again, "Okay…I'm not going to teach you any punches yet. I just want you to keep your eyes on me, or actually; the noodle. You know what a slip is, right?"
"Yes, I do. I also know what we're doing, and I don't like it at all."
"Oh, you do, huh? So, if I do this," Natsu swung the noodle vertically, directly at her head.
"Eek!" Lucy screeched, bringing her hands back to cover her face as she attempted to dodge.
Natsu barked out a laugh, "You can't cover your face like that!"
"Shut up! I panicked!"
"Well don't panic," he told her, "watch the noodle, and keep your hands tight and up in front of your face."
Natsu swung again, the noodle was slightly off center, more towards the right.
Lucy pushed down her will to shriek and slipped to the side without hesitation.
Whap!
She slipped right into the noodle.
"Wrong waaaaayyy," Natsu mocked in a sing-song voice.
"I knooooow," Lucy mimicked him through gritted her teeth.
After six more times, Natsu announced a break. She had slipped each of those six times the wrong way resulting in a chop to the head and a cranky Lucy.
Lucy trudged back to sit on the couch and sunk back into the cushion.
"I told you so."
Natsu scowled at her, "You can't think that after one round you're no good. It was your first try."
"Okay but I don't even know why I should try. I'm not a fighter and really doubt I could ever hurt someone, what's the point of learning anything about boxing for someone like me?"
Natsu gazed directly at her, his mouth in a tight line. He tossed the noodle to the ground and sat on the couch next to her. He sat straight up though, staring promptly at her with a look that Lucy thought she should fear.
"Listen. I don't blow steam so when I say this, it's what I know to be true. I've been boxing since I was walking. Outsiders, or…people that have never tried boxing or don't understand it, instantly view it as an aggressive sport with no meaning.
"It's…I mean, it took me a long time to learn that. I also thought it was about being the strongest and knocking people out. Probably hard to believe, but I was a pretty wild kid that was high on hitting things." Natsu shrugged half-heartedly.
Lucy snickered, "Very hard to believe."
Natsu smiled and continued, "Anyway, I know it sounds crazy for those that haven't really experienced it yet, but boxing is just…it's about so much more than fighting. We don't fight, we box. If you fall, you get back up. If you fail, you try again."
Lucy watched him slouch a bit after he ended his speech. She knew he was right, but as he had said, she just didn't have that feeling towards it.
"Damn, you should write a book," she teased, "but, yeah…I get what you're saying."
"You just be sure to write everything I say down and then you can be the author." He crossed his arms.
"Sounds good to me." She chuckled.
"So, let's try a few more times?" Natsu nodded his head toward the noodle.
Lucy released a heavy sigh, "I guess so."
They got back in their position. Natsu loomed over her with assurance written on his face. The noodle rose upward, Lucy tried to relax the tension she felt inside her body and stay focused on which way the noodle would come at her.
As if in slow motion, the noodle barreled toward her straight at her head.
As luck would have it, the sound of a door barging open made Lucy dart her eyes toward the sound of the intrusion. In which case, landed another noodle chop on Lucy's head.
"Damn it…" She muttered, glaring at Natsu through her peripherals.
"Oh…oops. Was that my fault?" Gray walked further into the room to where they were standing.
"Nice timing, dumbass." Natsu scowled.
"What? How was I supposed to know you guys were in here doing actual boxing drills…jeez, you trying to scare her off?"
"No! I was giving her a quick demo!" Natsu explained.
"You do know that you're the most hated class trainer, right?"
Natsu scoffed, "Doesn't matter, they just don't like me 'cause they know I push them hard…toward their fucking goal."
Gray snorted, "Yeah, that's the reason." He turned to face Lucy, "He hasn't scared you too bad has he?"
Lucy smiled softly and shook her head, "No, really it's okay. I'm not a very patient student, so in this case it was most likely me that scared Natsu."
"Pfft, nothing can scare him away." Gray and Lucy both looked at the pinkette, he was still repping his ninja-look, "Oh, except Erza."
Lucy laughed at the comment and Gray and Natsu joined in with her.
"Guess I can't deny that one." Natsu admitted.
"So, what brought you in here?" Lucy asked randomly.
"Ah well, actually to get you. Gramps, or I mean, Master wanted to speak with you before he leaves."
"What about?" Natsu interrupted.
"Man, I don't know, he just asked me to come get you guys!" Gray rolled his eyes at Natsu.
If Lucy had the choice to spend alone time with Gray and Natsu over getting hit with the noodle repeatedly for a day, she'd gladly choose the latter.
Lucy spoke before any more smart remarks could be made, "Thanks, Gray. We'll go see him."
"Sure, after you then." Gray gestured toward the door as Lucy stepped forward. She didn't turn around, but as soon as she walked ahead of Gray she was sure she heard some scuffled and miscalculated.
Thanks for reading! Please review if you're liking it so far, or if ya don't, or if you see any grammar errors (which I'm such a dumbbell when it comes to grammar).
Oh, the noodle exercise is based off a real thing too. You should try it with someone, it's tricky but when you start getting good at slipping/dipping omg it makes you feel like a superhuman. Just cut a pool noodle in half, put some space between you and your friend, and then you can slice vertically (they have to slip whichever way opposite you slice, or can go either direction if it's aimed right at their head) or you can swing sideward (in which they have to dip).
One time my coach put about 7 of us in the tiny practice ring while he stood in the middle, WITH THE NOODLE mind you, and just started swinging like a fucking psycho. We had to shuffle around in a circle, so s'not like we could move around to safety. We just had to block accordingly. Hah…ha..I did not do well. Captain is crazy sometimes.