Chapter 21: Between Legs

Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail

*Author's Note #1 – WARNING: The moves described in this fic CAN hurt others. Do NOT use these moves unless it is for SELF-DEFENSE. If you are interested in learning/practicing SELF-DEFENSE, please CONSULT a PARENT/GUARDIAN and/or sign up for a CLASS on SELF-DEFENSE.

Chapter 21 – Between Legs (Rated M)

Loke's suspicions were correct after what he'd just heard from Mr. Fernandes. "You want us to go into Natsu's home?" he repeated in a means to make things clear.

The man nodded. "Exactly. It will be the best way to confront him. And besides, Mr. Fullbuster will not be there when we arrive."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say he's going to be a little hung up at work."

"Natsu, I really need to get to work now," Gray sighed as he pulled away from yet another heated kiss.

"I know," replied Natsu, kissing him once more. There was just something in the air that made it hard for him to stop…well, kissing him. "I'm just saying goodbye."

"We've said goodbye a good five times already. But I'm not complaining," said Gray, cupping his face in his hands. Their lips met once more, the kiss deepening pleasantly when a cough interrupted them.

"Hello! There's someoneover here being blinded by your lovey-dovey stuff," Lucy interrupted; however, the look in her eyes was playful.

Grumbling to himself as he pulled away, Gray shot Lucy a glare. "I'll be back. Have fun studying with Lucy, Natsu. I'll see you later."

"Bye!" they cried as Gray left the apartment.

But as soon as he was gone, Natsu rounded on his best friend. "I'm gonna make you pay for that."

"Huh? Pay for what?"

"You're gonna pay for interrupting our lovey-dovey time," Natsu replied with a smirk.

Lucy took a hesitant step back. "Um, sorry?"

"Sorry doesn't cut it this time. Now, what would be an appropriate punishment?" he asked, tapping his chin in thought. "I know. How about—"

And Natsu lunged at her, much to Lucy's surprise. And then he started tickling the blonde mercilessly.

"That'll teach you," he laughed along with Lucy.

Gray was furious when he walked into Forever 21. He was supposed to be off during the weekends. Just what the fuck did his boss need him for that—

"Mr. Fullbuster, sir! Thank goodness you're here!" his boss exclaimed as he ran up toward him. "Someone's doubled our inventory! We need to sort it out!"

"What?" Gray said. How could that be? What kind of idiot would do that? Well, whatever the reason, he was just going to have to deal with it.

A knock suddenly sounded on the door, halting Natsu and Lucy's tickle war.

"Are you expecting someone?" asked Lucy as she sat up on the floor.

"No. Did Gray forget his key or something?" Natsu replied, rising to his feet to answer the door. When he reached it, he chanced a glance through the peek hole, and when he noticed Loke standing there, he chose to open it.

"Natsu—"

"Ah, ah, ah," started an unfamiliar voice, promptly interrupting Loke. The teen looked to Natsu almost apologetically, which only confused him more. "Let's step inside, shall we?"

Natsu took a few steps back when someone else entered the apartment along with Loke. "Who are you?" he asked when the man shut the door behind him.

Shoving Loke away from him, his head smacking against the wall, was Natsu's only response. "Who I am makes no difference, for the result shall be the same," he said.

Swallowing hard, Natsu took a few more steps back, hoping to keep his distance. And when he glanced over at Loke, he saw that he was out cold. Suddenly, a flash of metal caught his eye.

"You should really keep your eye on me," taunted the man, waving a knife in the air.

Natsu felt his heart slam into his chest. Why the fuck did it have to be a knife? "Who the fuck are you? And what do you want?"

"You had something—or rather—someone taken from me. So I thought I'd take something from you."

"What the hell are you talking about? I don't even know you!"

"But you know my son!" the man growled threateningly, moving closer to Natsu, the knife glinting mercilessly. "And Mr. Fernandes doesn't like it when his property is confiscated."

His son? Jellal! It all made sense now! No wonder Jellal had been so messed up at the time. This guy was a psychopath.

"He's not yours," said Natsu, trying to keep him distracted when he saw Loke stir. "Jellal's a person, not a piece of property."

"So you figured it out, did you? Well, then. It seems like I shouldn't prolong the inevitable. What do you say? Should we get this over with?" asked Mr. Fernandes lecherously.

"Get what over with?" Loke really needed to wake the fuck up! He couldn't distract this guy forever.

"I thought you'd never ask."

Time seemed to go in slow motion at that point. Just as Mr. Fernandes lunged at Natsu with the knife, Lucy darted in front of him, pushing the teen out of the way as she took the blade to the chest instead. As Natsu caught his bleeding friend in his arms, Loke came up behind Jellal's father with a vase in his hands, cracking the man in the skull. He collapsed on the floor in a dead heap.

"Lucy," Natsu stuttered, laying the blonde onto the floor as he added pressure to the wound on her chest.

"Natsu," she gasped. "You…okay?"

Natsu nodded through his tears. "Loke! Call an ambulance! Stay with me, Lucy. Please stay with me."

"Take care…of…Loke. I-I love him…and you…"

"Lucy!"

"Mr. Fullbuster!"

"What?" Gray snapped, looking up from the computer screen. Whatever this person had done to screw up their inventory list had really pissed him off. "What could be so important that—"

"There was an accident at your apartment! They're leaving for the hospital right this minute!"

Gray felt his heart stop. "Who?"

"I don't know who's injured. But you should get to the hospital immediately."

Without a second thought, Gray left.

When he arrived at the hospital, he was immediately intercepted by Loke. "What the fuck are you doing here?" Gray seethed.

"Gray…you don't have to like me, and I don't blame you if you hate me for all eternity after this moment, but hear me out. Jellal's father wanted revenge on Natsu. I didn't know that at the time. When I discovered his true intentions, I tried to stop him. However, he pulled a knife on me and took me to your apartment. As soon as Natsu let us in…I was shoved away and hit the wall. I blacked out for a bit." At this he paused.

"What happened next?"

"When I came to…it was nearly too late. There wasn't enough time to stop him from…I smashed him over the head with the vase and it knocked him out. But by that time…the damage had already been done. He…made to stab Natsu…but…but Lucy took the hit for him. She's in surgery right now. I…I don't know…"

Gray swallowed hard. He'd known Lucy his whole life. To lose one of his friends…

"Where's…Natsu?"

Loke sniffed, rubbing vigorously at his red and puffy eyes. "He's in the waiting room. As soon as we arrived, they took Lucy away, and he's been…well, you'll see," he answered, leading Gray into the waiting room.

Upon arrival, Gray's eyes met his boyfriend's form. He was covered in blood—Lucy's blood—and he seemed to be…empty. There was no expression on his face, his eyes were glazed over, and he was just sitting there.

"Natsu?" Gray called, kneeling in front of him as he took Natsu's face in his hands. "Hey. Look at me, Natsu. Look at me."

His boyfriend's eyes appeared to focus then. And when they did—and Natsu saw just who was there with him—he broke down.

"I couldn't stop him! It happened so fast and Lucy just came out of nowhere and—"

"Shh," Gray interrupted as he tried to soothe him. He pressed his forehead against Natsu's and gently stroked his face. "This isn't your fault, Natsu."

Natsu let out a sob. "Yes, it is."

"No…it isn't," Gray stated firmly as he bit back his own tears. There was a chance he could lose one of his friends, but there was also the chance he could lose Natsu. However, Natsu's leaving him wouldn't be death; it would be him having a mental breakdown. "You need to stay strong. For me and Lucy. Okay?"

"But what if she—"

Gray silenced him with a kiss. "No matter what happens…I'm still here and I'll still love you. No matter what happens."

"Mr. Dragneel?" called out a nurse. "I've brought you a change of clothing. I don't think it would be wise to see Miss Heartfilia in such a condition."

"What?" Natsu started, rising to his feet. "She's okay?"

The nurse smiled and nodded. "She's recovering right now. After you get cleaned up, the two of you may see her. All right? She's in room 262."

"She's gonna be okay," Natsu whispered as the nurse walked away.

"Yes, so let's get you cleaned up," urged Gray, leading his boyfriend into the restroom. He watched as Natsu shakily removed his clothing, washing off any excess blood before putting the new set of clothes on. When he finished, they left the restroom and ventured for Lucy's room.

By the time they got there, Natsu was a nervous wreck. Gray placed a gentle arm around his waist as he opened the door and led them inside.

Lucy was propped up in a sitting position and she was wide awake. It didn't look like she was in any pain, but she appeared groggy nonetheless—probably due to whatever sedatives they'd given her.

"Hi," she rasped, smiling at the two of them.

Tears started streaming down Natsu's face as he rushed over to the side of the hospital bed. "I'm so sorry," Natsu gasped, running his hands through Lucy's hair.

"It's not your fault, Natsu," Lucy reassured him. "I pushed you out of the way."

"Why did you do that?" He couldn't wrap his mind around why his best friend would do such a thing. "You could have died! So why?"

"I didn't want to see you in pain anymore," she answered simply, taking Natsu's hand in hers and giving it a firm squeeze. "I don't want anyone to ever hurt you again. Because if you're hurt, Gray's hurt…and I love you guys too much to let that happen. You two are my best friends, and I'd do anything to protect you."

"Lucy, you weirdo, I love you, too," Natsu bawled. "And don't you ever do anything like that again! I thought I lost you!"

"You can't get rid of me that easily," the blonde said with a smirk.

"I would hope not," Gray said as he cleared his throat. "Because you scared the shit out of us. I can only imagine what Erza will do when she finds out. She's probably never leave your side."

"I actually don't have a problem with that," Lucy said lightheartedly

"How bad was the—"

"—wound?" Lucy finished for Natsu. "It's not that bad. Only about fifteen stitches. I think. And it won't leave much of a scar. The cut was thin and clean."

Natsu sniffed and nodded, looking down at the bed as tears fell from his eyes again. "When will they let you out of here?"

"As soon as the discharge papers are signed," she replied with a tense shrug. "But…"

"But what?" asked Natsu.

"Nobody's…at home. Dad went on a business trip overseas, so…"

"I'll handle it," said Gray. "Do you want to come home with us now, or do you want to stay the night here?"

"I want to come home with you two," said Lucy. After what had happened, she didn't want to be alone.

Natsu smiled softly as he helped Lucy into bed. Giving her a quick kiss on the forehead, he made to leave the room. "I'll keep the door open, so call if you need anything," he said. "Goodnight, Lucy."

"Night, Natsu," replied the blonde as she started dozing off.

Leaving the room, he immediately bumped into Gray. "Sorry!" he exclaimed.

"No. I wasn't watching where I was going," said Gray. "How is she?"

"She's sleeping right now. I just helped her into bed. I told her that if she needed anything, to just call one of us."

Gray nodded in understanding and led Natsu to their bedroom. "Jellal's father has been put away…for good this time. He won't be getting out of prison."

Sighing in relief, Natsu collapsed on the bed and brought the back of his hand to his forehead. "Why does this stuff keep happening to me? What did I do? Did I do something wrong?"

"Natsu, you're not being punished for anything if that's what you're getting at," said Gray. "There's no way to prevent this sort of thing from happening. It's out of your control."

"I wish it wasn't."

4th Period – Self-Defense

Natsu did not want to be at school today. After bringing Lucy home Saturday afternoon, he had been acting as a nurse to his friend all Sunday. And now that it was Monday, and Lucy was home alone, he was a fucking bundle of nerves. Lucy had insisted that she'd be fine.

Also, considering Loke was nowhere to be seen, Natsu decided to keep Lucy's "incident" a secret for now.

"I hope all of you had a good weekend," Natsu stated indifferently. "Today's technique will be called Between Legs. You'll use this move when your attacker is on top of you and pinning one of your legs."

Lying down on the mat, Gray moved on top of him and pinned one of his legs. "When you get to this point, you'll hook one of your legs around one of your attacker's legs. Bring your other leg up and plant your foot on the floor close to your butt. Then you'll perform a Hip Thrust and roll to the side of the hooked leg. And remember to follow through with another technique…like an Eye Gouge or Palm Strike."

He and Gray demonstrated the technique a few times before Natsu released the class to practice the new move.

"Can we go home after this?" Natsu asked.

"Hm? Why?" responded Gray.

"I want to check on Lucy. She really shouldn't be left alone. And what if she hurts herself while trying to move around?"

Gray sighed, reluctant to allow his boyfriend to miss anymore school. But he couldn't help but feel the same way. "What do you have fifth and sixth period?"

"Those are just my electives."

"Which are?"

Natsu groaned. "Weight Training and Cooking. I can basically do whatever the hell I want in those classes since one, I'm teaching this class, and two, I'm an excellent cook. It won't hurt my grades any if I miss class…for awhile."

"Fine. We can play house after lunch."

"Play house?" Natsu balked. "What do you mean by play house?"

"Just that…you're going to get all mother hen-ish." Oh, yeah. That was a great explanation.

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Mother hen-ish?"

"You know, like cooking and cleaning."

Gray was digging a hole for himself.

"Anything else?"

"And acting all nice and caring and loving."

And it was getting deeper.

"Is that all?"

No, because Gray wanted to see if he could make it to the other side of the world at the rate he was digging his hole.

"Well…you kind of…coo."

"I coo?" Natsu deadpanned.

"You know. You…I think I'm just going to shut up now."

"Good idea…asshole," Natsu mumbled with an awkward smile on his face.

"And to think, I didn't even get to the other duties."

Natsu smacked him in the shoulder. "Pervert," he hissed.

Gray smirked, glad that he'd been able to lift Natsu's spirits some. "But I'm your pervert."

Self-Defense Recap – Between Legs

*Use when attacker is on top of you, pinning one of your legs

*Hook one leg around one of attacker's legs

*Bring other leg up and plant on floor (close to your butt)

*Perform a hip thrust and roll to side of hooked leg

*REMEMBER TO FOLLOW THROUGH WITH TECHNIQUE!

End Chapter