It's been a whole week since the three departed on a job. However, they weren't aware of what day is it because they had so much fun camping all the way home that they have lost track of the days.

And now, Natsu, Happy, and Juvia stood in front of the guild house, confused on why it's locked even though it's already late afternoon. Usually at this time of the day, the guild is already as loud as it can get.

"So... Is the guild opening or not?" Happy asked.

Natsu is just as lost as he is. Well, not like he haven't seen the guild house closed before. For all they know, maybe they jist lost track of the date and today is Sunday because the guild is closed during this day of the week.

"I don't know. Oh well, I'll open it myself!

Lifting his right feet off the ground, he was about to kick the door of the guild house open when he suddenly noticed the folded paper inserted at the gap between the double doors. His vigor from earlier turned to curiosity as he pulled the paper out and unfolded it. Written there was a message from the leader of his former team

- Natsu, I'm sure you're the one who will open this so let me tell you something important. Master Makarov decided that we should participate in the Grand Magic Games. As the event is still three months away, everyone in the guild is given permission to train for the whole period. Me and the team went to the beach to train there so feel free to go there if you want to. The event will be held at Crocus on the first of July so try to meet us there the day before or else a punishment will be due. Also, if you happen to see Juvia, please tell her about the games.

Erza -

After reading the letter, he felt pumped up, or in his words "fired up". He still doesn't have enough knowledge about this Grand Magic Games but he knows that this will obviously be a contest of magical prowess. And if the master wanted them to train, that only means that there will be fights as a part of the event.

"Alright! I'm fired up now!" he exclaimed.

This gathered the attention of the two who's still oblivious of why a letter would evoke such emotions from

him.

"What did the letter say, Natsu-san?" Juvia asked.

"This!" He handed the letter to Juvia just because he's not good at explaining it himself. This is done with his signature smirk.

Juvia took the paper in his hands and read its contents. Well, as a member of Fairy Tail, she's still excited but not on the same level as her current dragon slayer partner.

"So Natsu-san, do you want to go train with them at the beach?"

As Juvia spoke something about his teammates, they both immediately formed a bit of a frown on their faces. True, they still haven't gotten over their issues with the team.

However, Natsu suddenly beamed with excitement as if he just came up with a great idea. The two was once again startled by dragon slayer's sudden shift in emotions.

"What is it this time, Natsu? Are we going to them? Because I'm very open to the idea of going to the home of fishes." This time, it's Happy who asked.

"No, not like that. I'm actually thinking of training together with Juvia. I think we would improve much faster if we are constantly fighting with our elemental weakness."

Juvia listened to him and then agreed to his statement. It's true that her water is an easy counter to his fire, but the same can also be said from his lightning to her water. It is such a great, possibly the best opportunity for them to improve much faster than their usual training routines, although her improvement will be a little bit held back as her improvement relies on Natsu's lightning in which he isn't used to yet.

"Juvia agrees, Natsu-san! She will be joining you two in your training!" she affirmed with a beaming smile on her face.

"If Juvia agrees, then my idea is really a genius one! Hahahah!" gloated Natsu of his 'genius'.

"Heh!" Happy pouted, feeling dejected about not being able to go to the home of the fishes.

"You know that doesn't mean we still not going to train near a body of water, right? How about we go to a different beach? That way, Lucy and Carla won't distract you from fishing all you want." Natsu proposed.

With that, Happy immediately understood what Natsu meant. It's true that the two he mentioned would instantly whine whenever they do something which isn't to their liking, even if it has nothing to do with them. As much as Natsu and Happy like them as a friend, or in Happy's case which is a bit more, they just can't stand their whiny attitude sometimes.

"Aye! You're right!"

Just just watched the two and felt the level of understanding between them. For some reason, she felt a bit jealous of their closeness. That is because she haven't experienced it with someone. Sure she dated Bora before, but as much as she wants to be close to him that time, he even went as far as telling her how gloomy it was to be with her.

Now that she have witnessed how much these two are so close to each other, she can't help but want the same thing for her. It doesn't even have to be a romantic partner.

The thought made her shed a tear in each eye, which didn't go unnoticed by Natsu. As he smelled the familiar salty liquid, he instantly turned Juvia while wearing a worried expression on his face.

"Oi Juvia, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing, just a stray memory from my past. Don't worry about Juvia."

"Uh... Gray?"

"No, it's not about Gray-san."

He thought that if it is not about Gray, then it must be something from a distant past, one which he can't do something about. Unbeknownst to him, it is actually a very recent memory of hers; it is about him.

"Well, if it is something else then just forget about it. Let's make this training camp the most fun we'll have!" Natsu comforted her.

Upon hearing his words, she was presented with a hope that these two in front of her might be the ones who will give her the sense of belonging she longed for as long as she could remember. "Hmm, right." she replied.

"Then let's go stock these magical ice boxes with camping supplies."

...

The three of them first went to Fairy Hills so that Juvia can stock up on what she wants to bring with her during the whole three months of training camp, with most of them being a bunch of training clothes. This time, she's not gonna embarrass herself by not being prepared, which was actually not her fault the first time it happened.

Then they went to the market and spent all their income from the past job on stocking up ingredients, such as vegetables and spices, because Juvia wanted to cook for them and not just rely on hunted animals for the whole training period. Happy also wanted to stock up on fishes but remembered that they're going to a beach so he just chose to buy a higher quality fishing rod for the three of them.

Yes, during the past few days when they were still on the way home, they taught Juvia how to fish, much to the enjoyment of the latter.

And after a few hours of shopping at the market, they decided to go to Natsu and Happy's house just to get some few training clothes just like what Juvia did. They also wanted to put the water drake claw in his collection as a memento of the three's first job together.

After walking along the dirt road along the forest for a several minutes, they've finally reached their house. Unlike last time someone other than the owners of the house have been there when the trees looked dead and creepy, the trees surrounding the house are as lively as it can get.

'Oh, there's also a sign. "Natsu and Happy", how cute!" Juvia thought to herself.

Natsu opened the door, in which surprisingly wasn't locked. "Come in, Juvia. Make yourself at home while we go packing our things."

She did what he said and entered the house, a bit embarrassed of suddenly entering inside a boy's house. As she looked around the house, she noticed that it's not that messy compared to what the members of the guild talked about. Well, ever since Lucy came here to clean the house, she didn't stop whining to them that's why they eventually kinda formed a habit of cleaning the house.

Shortly after, her curiosity got the best of her as she then went to an uncharacteristically organized area inside the house. There are random objects, along with the house's own version of job request board full of completed job posters. For some reason, there's a framed paper with a stylized writing of the word 'Salamander' stabbed at the board with a dagger like it's a reminder of something that angers him a lot. But why would be angry at his own moniker? Questions for later.

Her eyes landed on the most recent addition to the collection. It's the only one labeled with a description. It is a rather huge bluish white claw a sticky note saying "First job with Juvia". Upon seeing it, she felt quite happy that she is somehow able to contribute to the collection by him putting a memento from a job they both did together.

It didn't take long before Natsu and Happy finished packing their training resources as they snuck up behind her.

""Boo!"" they briefly shouted which made the water mage stiffen up immediately.

"Eh! Natsu-san, that's mean of you!" she whined, making the two giggle with her reaction.

"So, let's go?"

"Aye, sir!"

The three of them agreed on the same thing as they immediately went out of the house and made their way to a beach located far from Magnolia.

...

At last, after two days of travelling by foot, they've finally found a beach without any human settlement nearby. The absence of people nearby is necessary because he wanted this training to be as intense as possible but to not cause any harm to others; something that Erza and the others might have not taken account for. Plus, his destructive tendency is what made his other teammates dislike him in the first place. This is one of the reasons why Natsu decided not to join his former teammates in the beach they're going to.

"Phew, I think this spot is good enough. What do you think? Happy? Juvia?"

The place really is great for everything they need for camping and training. The wide seashore provides an excellent grounds for training and battling. The forest at the back can be home to various edible wild animals and a great source of wood and some fresh fruits. And, Juvia can just modify some seawater with her magic to make it drinkable for everyone. Also, Happy can enjoy himself as much as he wants with all the fishes in the sea.

Speaking of which, unbeknownst to him, Happy already went towards the sea with his floater and fishing rod in hand.

"Um Natsu-san, Happy is already at the beach... But Juvia agrees, this place is good for training." Juvia replied with an awkward smile on her face.

"Oh well, I guess we're on our own now. Shall we start our training? I think it's better if we start it with a spar, don't you think?" he asked.

After seeing her nod in agreement, he instantly released a wave of fire, engulfing his whole body with the dragon flames. In response, though Juvia didn't do anything flashy like surrounding herself in water, she's just as ready for battle as him.

"Water Lock!"

It was Juvia who made the first move. Aiming her hands towards Natsu, a ball of high-pressure water instantly imprisoned him in his place. However, Natsu's flame was just too hot to be contained by water. With just increasing the intensity of his cloak of flames, he evaporated the water lock with ease.

After breaking free from the water lock, Natsu immediately concentrated his flames into both his hands. After jumping a few meters from ground, he then gathered the two flames in front of him while aiming at his opponent.

"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"

The huge fireball is launched from his hands, traveling fast down to Juvia. Seeing what his flame did to her Water Lock, Juvia played it safe and just jumped backwards to avoid being hit by the attack. However, as she turned backwards, she was met with a fiery punch in her face.

Natsu was almost worried that he overdid it but just brought his guard back up when he noticed that Juvia instantly turned into water the moment his punch connected, rendering his efforts useless. She then moved to his back and unleashed a stream of water.

"Water Ray!"

"Aah!" The attack connected to his back cleanly as he was sent flying forward until falling with his face hitting the ground first.

However, the attack clearly didn't do much damage as he instantly got back up like nothing happened. "Wow, this is fun! I'm all fired up!"

He then kicked the ground below, making him shoot up towards her. Now with his right foot engulfed in flames, he aimed it again towards Juvia's head. But then he remembered that physical attacks just don't work on her. That's why he modified the attack by just releasing the flame in his foot and launching it towards her.

"Fire Dragon's Talon!"

Just as he planned, the pure flame did affect her as the attack connected and knocking her back for a few meters. However, the attack expectedly didn't do much damage as she just used his water to nullify the flame shortly after it made contact with her, although she admitted that the attack was really a powerful one.

She didn't even realize that her hairdo came undone from the direct hit to his head, causing her hair to flow on her back. Instead of the artificial look of the circular curl that her usual hairstyle shows, this one right now looks way more natural.

To retaliate from the attack, she released two spiraling columns of water towards him.

"Water Nebula!"

In response, Natsu also released a cyclone of fire from his mouth, knocking his body back a bit from the recoil of the attack.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

The two elements clashed with such ferocity that they created a crater at ground below the impact area. It was then that both attack ended in a tie. Somehow, Natsu's roar was strong enough just to vaporize her Water Nebula, not to hit her with it.

After the cloud of steam dissipated, the two are shown facing each other, panting moderately from the fight. Juvia noticed that he's still wasn't using his lightning, thus he's still not being serious about the fight.

The fight went on for until the sky turned orange. She's been increasing her magic output every time she's attacking him, hoping that he will eventually use his lightning. But no, he still haven't used them yet they are both running out of magic.

Willing to find a conclusion to this stalemate of a fight despite both sides being already exhausted, Juvia voiced her concerns about this fight. "Come on Natsu-san, take this fight seriously and use your lightning!"

He just raised an eyebrow and replied "Why would I do that if you are still holding back yourself?"

With that, they both gathered their magic, powering up to what they considered a serious mode. If Juvia's Sierra can make her water boil, this time, she made them to the temperature of almost a freezing point. This way, fire can't easily heat it up and evaporate it. Natsu on the other began cloaking his body in a more powerful flames with some yellow lightning crackling around him.

"Finally, you're using your lightning!"

She began charging their attacks. Her cold waters began swirling around her hand. With lightning present in the battle, she now can't afford to prolong this any longer. She needs to let this attack of hers the decisive blow, whether it's a win or loss.

"Water Nebula!"

"Lighting Fire Dragon's Roar!"

The swirling pillars of water are much more concentrated than the previous ones, making it a lot stronger than before. Her opponent also responded with a stronger version of his previous attacks, this time with yellow lightning to add to its power.

The two beams clashed, but surprisingly, the lightning-cloaked flames are being pushed backwards. Juvia saw this as an opportunity to further add power to her water to seal her victory.

Unfortunately for her, Natsu's attack was pushed back just because he wasn't there anymore. After releasing his decoy attack, he moved fast behind Juvia in the midst of the beam clash. Now with an opening in front of him, he spread his hands like a dragon's wings.

"Lightning Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"

Lightning and fire waves are launched from each of his hands, flying towards Juvia's back. She noticed the incoming attack from her back but she's out of magic and stamina to do something about it. All she could do now is to just cross her arms forward and brace herself for the impact.

But alas, the attack wasn't all that powerful anymore as Natsu himself also ran out of magic. The attack, although powerful in its own right, only did a decent damage towards her.

It was at this moment that Natsu was glad he wasn't strong enough. He got caught in the moment that he accidentally released all his power with the attack. It was lucky that he was already severely weakened or else the Wing Attack might gravely injure her, or in worst scenario, kill her. He cursed himself for his lack of control, something that he should be working on for this training camp.

Although severely weakened from depleting his ethernano reserves, he hurried to Juvia who was moderately injured but unable to move also due to being out of magic.

"Juvia, I'm sorry I overdid it." he apologized while carrying her to a shade of a tree, temporarily laying her down on a blanket laid on the ground while he set her tent up.

"Don't be. J-Juvia would b-be angry if you held back. It's my best friendly fight ever!"

"Yeah, that was also the best I've experienced. So just rest and let me treat your injuries."

And that he did. After setting her tent up and moving her comfortably inside it, he took out some disinfectant and bandages from Juvia's first aid kit. As her arms took most of the damage, he prioritized them as he awkwardly placed a disinfectant on a pinch of cotton and applied it to various cuts and burns on her arms.

"H-hngh!"

The stinging sensation elicited a whimper from Juvia which made Natsu feel a little bit uncomfortable for some reason he didn't know.

"Ah uh... I'm sorry. Am I doing it wrong? I actually haven't treated someone's wounds this way before." he apologized.

"No, don't mind Juvia. This is just a normal reaction for someone's wounds being treated."

After being reassured that he was not doing it wrong, Natsu continued treating her wounds despite her gasps and moans that were kinda preventing him from doing his job. He's just concerned for the girl as those sounds were a clear indications of her pain.

Now this is where it gets very embarrassing for Natsu. As he was done with her arms, he noticed that there's a small cut on Juvia's left cheek. He remembered that most of his female guildmates always make a fuss over some visible scars no matter how small they are. To him, she might be insanely bothered by a scar on a very open part of her skin which is the face. That is why he immediately tended to the injury.

He slowly brought the new disinfectant-soaked cotton to her face, much to the embarrassment of the two. He paid no attention to the heating of his cheeks and weird feeling he has in his chest right now as he just continued disinfecting her small wound.

"So now I'm going to put some bandages on them, right?"

"Please do, Natsu-san."

Quickly, he dug at the various first aid supplies from the box and found an adhesive bandage. He instantly took it and used it on the cut in her face. To do this, he needed to be close to her face again.

With a bit of difficulty in aiming the adhesive bandage due to the shakiness of his hands from the fight, he took longer than needed to finally stick it to her wound. With his two thumbs, he then gently pressed the ends of the bandage on her cheeks to secure the adhesion.

The intimate position of his hands, which are practically cupping cheeks, made Juvia feel a warm sensation flowing to her cheeks aside from just the warmth of Natsu's hands. She tried not to mind the meaning of her reaction because she knows that he is oblivious about this kind of things.

However, when Natsu moved to wrap her arms with bandages, Juvia caught a glimpse of his also reddened cheeks and his hesitation in holding her bare hands like he was restraining himself. Upon seeing him in such a state, Juvia was glad she's not with an idiot who can't tell the difference between a boy and a girl, and by extension shy enough to respect such boundaries.

"And all done!" Natsu happily stated after bandaging her arms.

"How about you? Juvia is sure you also have a few cuts."

"Nah, I can just use my flames to disinfect and close them. I wont be far outside so just call me you need something, okay?" he replied as he stepped outside the tent to look for some dried tree branches to use as a fuel for their campfire.

Now that she's all alone inside the tent, Juvia just laid there, letting her mind wander to the sea of thoughts. Various thoughts surfaced such as what the Grand Magic Games is about, how are the other guild members doing right now, and about spending all these three months alone with just Natsu and Happy.

Not that she doesn't want their company, in fact, she actually liked it. it's just that she became conscious of herself. It can't be avoided because just the thought of spending time alone with the opposite sex will always make someone conscious.

There's also the issue of her finding Natsu quite attractive recently. Because of these few days, they have always been together that she had already picked up some his good traits which only went unnoticed before because of her sole fixation to Gray.

Meanwhile at the woods, Natsu is also thinking of something similar to what Juvia is having right now. Like how he feels kinda different when being in a close proximity to her. For so long, he has been surrounded by objectively beautiful women of the guild and he didn't encounter such issues before. Hell, he would even go as far as sleeping on the same bed as Lucy but not feeling anything of the same as what he is feeling now.

But for now, he needed a bit of a snack. Pulling a matchstick out of his pocket, he lighted it and ate its flame.

'I guess thinking about it just complicate things so I'll just leave it as it is and face it head on when it's needed. Thinking is not my style anyways.'

...

A/N: Phew, that was the longest chapter I've ever written in any type of literature. Also, I know that water in its purest form is an insulator. However, I will be using Pokemon logic in this one because Fairy Tail story seems to be using it also.