Woah it been well over a month since the last chapter of this story but in all fairness I'm trying to juggle something like what 10 stories several different assignments for college and all my application stuff for university so I'm trying to keep each story to a maximum waiting limit of a month for the next chapter and then depending on which story it is and the length of the chapters it could be a week at most but I usually tend to give myself longer for crossovers when updating because it usually involves making brand new material for the first few chapters before moving onto the existing stuff from anime or manga so yeah hope the wait hasn't been too unbearable.
Kuroka looked directly into the eyes of a very demonic looking Natsu Dragneel who was staring silently back at here with his now piercing blood red eyes, to say that Kuroka was frightened was an understatement, on one hand she the strongest dragon king not that far away and probably pissed off as hell from that last blow and in the other she had a very confused and distant looking Natsu who seemed as if he didn't recognise her.
Said dragon king was silently observing from a distance while recovering from the previous blow which had dealt a serious amount of damage considering it was her own power reflected back at her except with twice the power she put into it. "This boy is just full of surprises and to think that he's pushing me this far" Tiamat said with noticeable irritation as she noticed her regenerative abilities had slowed considerably. But on the inside she was ecstatic at finally getting a fight where she could release a great amount of her power without restraint.
Back with Natsu and Kuroka the Nekomata found herself frozen stiff under the slayer's silent gaze which seemed to continue forever until he raised his hand up and it appeared to both Tiamat and Kuroka that he was going to strike. Too scared to move or speak Kuroka couldn't say anything in protest and just closed her eyes waiting for the dragonslayer to strike and he was going until his blood red eyes made contact with Kuroka's hazily gold ones except now tears threatened to spill out from them.
"K…kuro…ka?" The dragon grabbed his head covering his face with his hands, his voice had returned to normal but he seemed unaware of had happened before. "Natsu is that really you?" Kuroka asked in a panicked voice as she reached out for the dragonslayer's shoulder, "I don't really know what happened but we're not out of the woods yet there's still a dragon to put down" Natsu replied pulling one of his hands away from his face reveal his still blood crimson eyes but the difference this time was there was a slit-like pupil that was surrounded by a faint black ring. To be honest Kuroka wasn't sure if it was Natsu for a moment until she saw him flash her a quick smile, "Hide somewhere quick, round two is gonna be ugly" Natsu said in a serious voice before turning to the approaching dragon.
"Still think you can beat me boy? I won't stop you although I'm interested in you. Tell you what I'll cut you a deal, come with me and I'll only hand over the kitty cat" Tiamat offered surprising both Natsu and Kuroka, "Sorry but I'll have decline, I'll never abandon a friend to save myself, either she escapes herself, with me or we both get caught together" Natsu swiftly decline before he felt a new life flow through his veins.
"Hmmm have it your way hybrid" "Hybrid?" "But I won't hold back anymore" Tiamat said in voice that promised pain before a massive shockwave of magic was unleashed throughout the area uprooting trees and earth alike while also cloaking the dragon in a massive pillar of teal coloured flame-like energy and most likely attracting attention from unwanted devils.
"If you don't go all out using the power I gave you then both of you will die" Natsu heard the same voice as earlier say except this time it didn't sound sinister in the slightest, before Natsu could even question what was going on the voice spoke up again.
"Relax I'll help you control just fight as you normally would, with every bit of power you have!" The voice said before Tiamat came flying towards Natsu at blinding speeds not giving the slayer much room to argue with the voice in his head "Arc of Lightning!" Natsu shouted out before his body transformed into a mixture of gold and purple lightning allowing him to easily escape the jaws of the dragon king who skidded to a stop and narrowed her eyes on Natsu upon where he landed.
"I guess my dragon form just isn't fast enough so this will do for now" Tiamat said before she started shrinking back down to her human form, her voice returning to a regular pitch. "Make no mistake dragonslayer I still have enough power in this form to go toe to toe with one of the Maou even Sirszech himself but now I'm no longer strictly dragon but more so a hybrid like yourself. So even though it may be somewhat of a gamble on my part the reduction in my size and power allows my speed to greatly increase and I'd be willing to say that your magic won't be as effective anymore" Tiamat said with a smirk allowing her fanged incisors to show.
"Tch there goes my advantage" Natsu said under his breath, "Relax since when has having or not having an advantage ever affected your ability to fight until you win?" The voice in Natsu' head spoke up again this time offering encouragement "Who the hell are you?" Natsu asked while keeping his eyes fixed on the unmoving Tiamat. "That doesn't matter, all you need to know is that I am you, and you are me" the vice cryptically replied confusing Natsu who just shrugged "I don't understand but don't care as long as you give me the power to protect Kuroka then I'll trust you" the pinkette said under his breathe "Good then the contract is sealed, the time will come when you Natsu Dragneel will be the one to face our…"
Natsu was unable to hear the finish of what the voice said as it continuously faded out but now the dragonslayer had the approaching problem of Tiamat to deal with as she walked every closer to him with a noticeable sway in her hips and had Natsu already engaged her in combat and just seen this he would have admittedly fallen for her charms as would any of the men within his old guild.
"Okay here she comes" the dragonslayer said under his breath before he charged straight for the dragon king who did the same cloaking her fist in the same teal coloured energy as usual while Natsu's was cloaked in a mixture of gold and purple lightning and crimson and purple flames "Lightning Flame Dragon's Demolition Fist" putting as much force behind his attack as he could Natsu met Tiamat's attack head on resulting in an explosive wave of energy with neither combatant giving an inch.
Meanwhile Kuroka watched from a distance and she could feel the terrifying amount of magic, she wanted to help but there wasn't much she could do to a being of Tiamat's magnitude, that and the combined amount of power had turned her legs to jelly causing them to give out on her. "Why am I so useless, I couldn't save Shirone properly and now the only person willing to help me might die because of me? Why? Why am I so useless?" Kuroka continued to ask herself over and over again as tears freely flowed from her face, why was life so unfair that's all she wanted to know what did she do to deserve this. "Maybe I'm just better off dead"
Back with Natsu and Tiamat the two had continued exchanging physical blows one after the other before Natsu heard every single word of Kuroka berating of herself causing a momentary lapse in his concentration leaving him wide open.
"You're wide open!" Tiamat shouted in a battle crazed voice before she slugged Natsu with a teal coloured energy infused right hook to the face sending the dragonslayer flying. Tiamat must have put more power behind the attack than she originally intended because the slayer didn't stop flying until he skidded to a stop next Kuroka.
"NATSU!" said Nekomata shouted in worry as she helped the pinkette up, "You're not useless" "Huh?" "I said you're not useless, you can and already have saved someone. You saved me without you I would have died! So don't go saying that you're better off dead because I sure as hell ain't gonna accept that. You've got things you want to do so take my hand and together we'll make it there every step of the way, let me save you!" Natsu said in a stern tone yet compassionate tone as he stood tall and offered Kuroka his hand which was still covered in the demonic markings "Natsu"
*Ahem* "I hate to interrupt your touching moment here, but did you forget about lil' old me?" Tiamat said playfully earning an uninterested look from Natsu who then said something that only Kuroka was able to here making her eyes widen out of stupidity before Natsu got a few feet in front of her.
"Oh not at all I was just thinking you wouldn't be able to do 'this' as you are now" Natsu said with a smirk earning a raised eyebrow from the dragon king. "Lightning Flame Dragon RRROOOAAARRRR!" Letting loose his most powerful roar to date Natsu had to dig his heels into the ground to keep himself from being blown back. Tiamat only gritted her teeth in annoyance as she was gonna have to counter the attack due to the sheer size of the roar being too great for her to dodge "Karma Chaos Dragon RRRRROOOOOAAAARRRR!"
Tiamat let loose a roar slightly large that Natsu's made up the teal coloured energy, both roars met head on and both began struggling for dominance however, Tiamat was unaware that this was all a part of Natsu's plan as she was now unable to see where or what Kuroka was doing. "NATSU IT'S READY!" the she-devil shouted over to the dragonslayer who then deliberately decreased the power of his roar allowing Tiamat's to slowly over power his while he slowly walked back to where Kuroka was. "ENOUGH I'LL END THIS!" the pair heard the dragon king shout before she increased the power of her roar.
The roar of teal energy broke through Natsu's as if it were nothing and sped towards the dragonslayer and nekomata pair "HERE GOEAS NOTHING" Natsu thought to himself before focusing on the demonic markings on his arm which quickly began to pulsate to life and form a broken blade shape. "FULL COUNTER!" Natsu tried to recreate the effect the attack had the last time, however he wasn't in control last time when he did it but it did have a desired effect. As he swiped the blade of demonic black energy across his body he met some resistance when it came into contact with the roar.
It actually put a lot of strain on his body so much so that he unconsciously shifted the black markings to the right side of his body in order to strengthen it. The struggle continued for a few seconds until BBBOOOMMM while not a complete counter he managed to turn Tiamat's roar back against her as desired but in the form of a spray shot giving Natsu the chance he needed, "Sorry to just run like this but I prefer to be alive" Natsu said sarcastically before he and Kuroka jumped into a dimensional hole the nekomata had created this time to a known location thankfully.
As the portal closed an audible growl could be heard through the smoke and a pair of piercing draconian eyes could be seen before a massive gust of wind dispersed the dust and smoke created from the redirected attack revealing a now very pissed off and slightly injured dragon. "Bastard, smart as it was to use may own power against me he has some nerve to just run like that, things were getting interesting. Guess I made the smart choice as well by switching back into this form" Tiamat said in an audibly angry voice as she inspected the injuries her wings sustained as they shielded her. "If I had taken this much damage in human form I might have died" the dragon king said to herself before going off back to her home as she had nothing better to do.
With Sirszech and Grayfia
"How goes the search Grayfia" Sirszech the crimson haired Satan asked as he stared out the window of his office in the palace. "I'm afraid all the groups have come back empty handed, the closest we to finding him was amidst the peaks to the west but there was another individual there with him as there was traces of dimensional travel as well as devil energy" Grayfia said in her usual emotionless voice.
"I see this could be bad, it may be possible that he has allied himself with one of our enemies, one of the criminals we still haven't caught yet. It is imperative that we find that young man and bring him back. He could prove to be dangerous if he has allied himself with our enemies" Sirszech said in a disheartened tone as he scratched his head. "Is there anything else or is that it?" Sirszech asked in an exhausted tone as he took a seat in his desk chair.
"Yes there are a few other things I'll start with everything concerning your sister Lady Rias" (A/N I can't remember how Grayfia addresses Rias so forgive me) immediately upon saying this Sirszech's mode seemed to take a 180 as he was happy and eager to get every bit of information concerning the younger Gremory which of course Grayfia expected to happen.
After giving Sirszech every bit of information concerning Rias and her peerage's recent endeavours Grayfia then moved on to something that had been on her mind all day "Finally there was a disturbingly large amount of Magic power in the forest in which Tiamat the Karma chaos dragon king resides today" Grayfia revealed getting a nod from Sirszech "Yes I'm aware I felt it, she was probably blowing off steam, she is rather hot headed and no-one ever challenges her to a fight, well I'd like to think no-one is stupid enough to challenge her" Sirszech said in an uninterested tone as he began more paper work.
"I don't believe she was just blowing off steam, the amount of forest that was destroyed was phenomenal much too large even for a dragon king who was blowing off steam. I believe she fought someone or something, and it was powerful as the area was severely damaged" Grayfia revealed now gaining some interest on the crimson haired Satan's part. "Hhm perhaps this requires some investigation on my own and the other Satan's part. Grayfia please an eye on Rias, Issei and the rest of her friends I have a feeling things may get interesting very soon" Sirszech said grinning like a Cheshire cat earning a sigh from the female devil who walked out of the room leaving the Maou by himself to his thoughts…which of course revolved around his sister.
The next day Natsu and Kuroka
Currently both Natsu and Kuroka were leaning side by side against a tree breathing heavily, their bodies were heavily injured and upon arriving through the dimensional whole both collapsed and even after awakening the next day they could still feel the toll of their injuries. However they weren't exactly in a sheltered area and both of them knew they had to find somewhere to stay hidden as well get food not to mention somewhere for Kuroka to perform senjutsu. "Natsu, thanks for saving me" Kuroka said as she looked at the dragonslayer fondly. Natsu could only smile in response, "No problem, a devil, demon or dragon I'll save you from all of them" Natsu replied in a laid back tone with closed eyes.
"No, I'm not thanking you for saving from Tiamat, I'm thanking you for saving me from myself" she said in an amused tone confusing the dragonslayer momentarily before he received a kiss on the cheek from the black haired beauty. "S-su-sure any time" Natsu said in an embarrassed tone earning a giggle from the nekomata, "Awe aren't you whittle cutie getting all embarrassed over a whittle kiss" Kuroka said childishly as she teased the pinkette before she stood up holding her hand out for the dragonslayer to take.
"So where are we?" Natsu asked curiously "Well were no longer in Gremory territory, we're now in Sitri territory, I teleported us to an area roughly two miles away from a town we might be able to get some food there I still have some money" Kuroka said before reaching her hand down into her cleavage an action which turned Natsu on to no end and he had to look away before she out a medium sized pouch filled with coins. (A/N yeah I'm just going to be using coins for the underworlds currency cause I don't know if they use actual money or not)
"We shouldn't waste money on stuff we can catch, as long as the animals here are edible then I can catch it, kill it and eat it" Natsu said earning a raised eyebrow from Kuroka "You can hunt?" she asked in surprise, "well I lived with a dragon out in the asswhole of nowhere for seven years so it's a skill that is kinda required if you want to survive" Natsu said now getting a sceptical look from Kuroka. "Why would a dragon allow a dragonslayer to live with them, your magic is designed to kill them that makes you natural enemies?" Kuroka further questioned before putting her sack of coins back in its 'storage compartment.'
"Why would I kill my parent, Igneel saved my life a whole load of times, he found me in the forest one day and took me in, he's the one who taught me my magic. I don't know why a dragon would teach a human dragonslayer magic Igneel disappeared without telling me much and when I found him we got separated because of that demon bastard I told you about" Natsu replied saying the last part with a great amount of venom earning a nod of understanding.
"Okay I'll leave it at that but onto another subject we need to find a place to stay" Kuroka said as she inspected her clothing seeing the various tears it had received, "We could see if there are any inns in the town, give me the money and I'll go in and get you something to cover your face so people don't recognise you" Natsu suggested causing Kuroka to think "It would be nice to sleep on a bed for a change…fuck let's try it but be quick in my current state I won't last too long against anyone" Kuroka replied in an exhausted tone as the prospect of a comfortable bed for the night won out causing her to throw almost all caution to the wind.
It didn't take Natsu very long to return with a hooded cloak and a shirt...and exactly the same amount of money that Kuroka had given him. "Why is there same amount of money in here as when you left?" Kuroka asked curiously as she took the cloak from Natsu. "Um the vender wanted to get rid of this stuff because they couldn't sell it" Natsu lied as the vendor would have sold it to anyone but went for equivalent exchange with Natsu instead. The equivalent being a free feel up of his abs not that he minded.
"Guess that just works out for us in the long run then…huh what are you doing?" Kuroka chose to believe him but then she questioned the pinkette's actions as he held out his scarf towards her. "Your face isn't completely covered, use this" the dragonslayer said before Kuroka smiled and wrapped the scarf around her neck pulling it up so the lower half of her face which was then followed by her pulling up her hood.
"Ok that should make it harder for people to recognise you, now let's go find an inn to stay in" Natsu said in a cheery voice and although he couldn't see past his scarf it caused Kuroka to smile. "Yeah that sounds great, a bed would actually be a dream come true now" Kuroka said in an exhausted tone before the two set out for the town.
15 minutes later at the inn
"Room for two please" Natsu said in a neutral tone an elderly man at the desk of third inn they had tried. "You and your lady friend are in luck stranger we have a single room left and it wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't the last room left in any of the inns in the town due to the towns annual familiar festival being tomorrow" the old man said in a kind tone, the age evident within his voice.
"This should cover the room" Kuroka said placing an appropriate amount of coins on the desk while keeping as much of her face out of sight as possible which got the old man curious. "You don't like people seeing your face do you young miss?" he questioned causing Kuroka to just shake her head in response, "She's been like this since I met her, the only thing she said is that she was in an accident a received a scar on her face, I don't think much of it she's still beautiful but she won't exactly tell me how she got the scar but I respect privacy as it is something she doesn't appear comfortable talking about so I would greatly appreciate it sir if you would do the same" Natsu explained to the elderly man earning a nod and a smile from the man who then looked over to Kuroka while Natsu mentally patted himself on the back.
"You certainly are lucky miss, your man appears to care a great about your feelings and privacy. There aren't many like that now a days" the old man said and before Natsu could say that he and Kuroka weren't an item Kuroka pressed herself up against the dragonslayer deciding to just roll with it while also having a little fun.
"Don't worry sir Natsu's the best I'd be lost without him, he's one of a kind and I'm head over heels for him" the nekomata said while pressing every inch of her amazing body against the dragonslayer's whose mind currently wasn't working right, while he knew Kuroka was acting to make things more realistic having someone with a body and looks of her calibre basically melded against his own was causing him put a lot more effort into his restraint than usual. Seeing the scene before him the elderly man let out a hearty laugh, "Ah you young'uns these days, here's your key, room 121 'have a good night'" he said in a hearty tone while saying the last part with a wink which almost caused Natsu to choke on the air he was breathing at the implication.
As soon as they made their way into the room shutting the doors behind them Kuroka removed her cloaked, Natsu's scarf and kicked off her shoes before plopping down onto one of the two beds in the room with the most satisfied look on her face which was further emphasised by the movement of her two tails. The room itself was nothing special two bed, plain white walls, bits of furniture here and there, a bathroom with a shower all in all a pretty standard room.
However the way Kuroka had landed upon the bed had caused her Yukata to flip up revealing her longs creamy legs as well as some of the underside of her ass and this had the unfortunate effect of activating Natsu's dragon instincts and this time he didn't know if he was going to be able to hold himself back. "There's no way she's the one I've barely known her two days!" the dragonslayer screamed inside his head as he began a fight with himself while Kuroka remained oblivious to Natsu's struggle as she was momentarily infatuated with the bed.
It wasn't until she felt a pair of hands grab her by the side, flip her onto her back and pin her against the mattress that she was snapped from her daze. Kuroka could only look up in shock as she saw a very conflicted looking Natsu whose eyes were continuously flickering "Natsu what's wrong?" Kuroka asked more worried for the dragonslayer than herself at the moment.
"I….can't hold…back…Kuroka knock me out…do something anything…I don't want it to happen like this" Natsu grunted out as he eyes became more golden with his pupils becoming more slit like t every word. Kuroka was left at a loss for words, she knew what was happening to Natsu but she didn't know what to do. She looked from left to right until her eye caught sight of something that made her eyes widen, placed just above the scar on Natsu's neck was a glowing blue flame that Kuroka had never seen before but somehow she knew automatically what it was. "My mark"
But as Kuroka got lost in her surprise she completely forgot about Natsu who lowered his head down to her neck before baring his fangs and biting into the side of her neck which Kuroka wasn't going to lie hurt like a bitch but now she felt as if fire was flowing through her veins, she could feel her entire body heat up to temperature she didn't think possible but it wasn't painful. In fact it was actually very pleasant and although it only lasted for the briefest of moments Kuroka swore she saw the blue flame mark on Natsu's neck glow a bright shade of blue and then the pinkette suddenly collapsed on her. It took a while for everything to set in before she started laughing "Known each other barely two days and we've marked each other" she thought in an amused tone as she shifted Natsu so he was lying beside her "Looks like we're stuck with each other now…Natsu"
Chapter end
Okay yes the 3rd chapter is done what did you guys think? Good? Bad? Alright? Just so were all on the same page yeah I get that it's only been like two days and they've mark each other but I still intend to develop their relationship further over periods of time before I get into the main stuff this was only to cement the marking thing but yeah they're gonna get a lot closer of the next few chapter might do like a buddy, buddy chapter somewhere along the line and even use Vali at an early stage, I'll think of a way to introduce him and make him fight Natsu before Kuroka and Natsu meet Rias and her peerage. Until next time see ya!