Chapter 21: A Reason to Stay
Natsu plopped into the warm water, tensing as heat invaded his senses. A small amount of liquid cascaded over the bath's sides. He didn't worry about it too much.
Damn, it felt good to let his muscles relax. Bath water, in any state other than friggin' cold, was a hard commodity to get outside of the city. Even tub houses charged a hefty price just to get dirty water rewarmed. Love and Lucky had indoor plumbing without heat though. You had to boil water in an old fashion hip cask. Thankfully, Lucy had the large iron box moved into the kitchen two days after their "training" sessions began.
Visions of how Lucy reacted to his lessons popped into his head. He laughed, sloshing water as he hung his legs over the edge so he could dunk his upper body. The pleasant tingle now circulated throughout his chest and arms, even though his legs were somewhat chilled. Natsu could really take a nap. He couldn't remember the last time he was this comfortable. Closing his eyes, he carefully balanced his head on the rim as to not strain any of his neck muscles.
The only bad thing about this was the scented lye soap beside him. The object had Lucy's scent, which he wasn't complaining about using, but the men were sure to give him hell at the bunks for smelling prissy.
Natsu didn't feel particularly filthy when he strolled into the kitchen, but when he saw the fresh water a set of pants freshly folded on the bar, he had not thought twice about stripping to climb inside. He only stopped long enough to place a gray folding screen around the area. At least he was nice to create a barrier between him and anyone who walked through, not that he cared if anyone saw him naked. He just thought the females might not like seeing him there. Especially when all three of them were the type of female to skewer his balls and cook them for dinner.
"Natsu I can't possibly fight in a dress." Lucy complained pulling at her skirt.
Natsu paused without replying to take off his vest. The man had stopped in the middle of the old garden, sitting down the lantern he had grabbed quickly off a post. Sting had explained to Natsu that they took an old native custom to gardening by rotating the cultivation site. One year it would be to the north. Another year would be to the south to let nutrients go back into the gave her a once over, before saying "But that's how you would fight normally, in a dress. Unless… Are you asking to take off your clothes?"
The girl grimaced before rounding on him. , "Now I am plotting at thousand ways to murder a perverted lawman, I know."
He grinned at the sassy remark.
"You aren't the first," Natsu's eyes twinkled as disappointment enter his voice, "I was getting rather happy thinking about sparring you in your camisole."
A shoe went flying past his ear.
"Woman! What's with you and taking off your shoes? Do you have a foot fetish?" He barely managed to dodge the second one.
Folding her arms, she refused to continue bantering with him. Lucy marched to retrieve her lost boots. As she passed, the girl asked, "I don't know why we have to do this. You have been on the receiving end of my kicks and punches. Why do we have to do this now?"
Nerves prickled his skin, as he prepared for an attack. He let her move an arm's length away before shoving her. Even though this was not a real fight. He would not actually be aiming to hurt her, it had been long since he got to do anything not farm related. Now his adrenaline was coursing through his veins as he planned how to stalk his prey, Lucy.
"What?" As she tried to regain her balance. He playfully tapped her arm with a fist. "Always be prepared!"
She angrily tried to hit him but he leaned too far back. He could see her temper rising by the second.
"What if he," Natsu pushed her again but this time she braced herself, "was stronger than you." She stepped on his boots but the thickness protected him so she kicked his shins. He yelped, staggering back.
"Always be prepared," She said smugly.
He then grabbed her shoulder, throwing her to the ground.
"Umph!" She wheezed as if the wind had been knocked out of her. She stared at him intently. "You are serious."
"You bet!"
"I didn't think you would try to hurt me." She stared at him with innocent doe brown eyes hinting of tears that made his soul churn.
"First rule is to be unpredictable. If I am a guy after you, then I am expecting a weak damsel in distress. That's when your psycho side needs to come out."
"What psycho side?" That's all it took for Lucy to place a well aimed kick from the ground.
She tackled him, which was surprising, but he rolled her over. His body weight had already settle unto her legs, holding them immobilized.
"Not that psycho. Now how are you going to get out of this? You are both on the ground. He is heavier. I don't even have to put much strength into anything other than holding your hands down." She squirmed but then he just roughly held her down more. In the end, Lucy gave up with Natsu above her as the victor.
"And the point of this was? To show you strength? Perving out on me?" Lucy asked airily, clearly bored with the outcome.
He rested his head on the ground by her left ear. His warm breath sending her hair strands flying every time he exhaled. "First you need to attack but keep distance. Defend. Make him go down. Then get the hell away. Make sure he is not going to follow you first."
Natsu sat up. He pointed to his nose. "Drop him on his ass so hard that he regrets following you. Aim for his face, they eyes and nose. Also attack the groin and solar plexus."
"Ok but how do I do that?" snapped the girl.
Natsu held out his hand as he stood. "But we are going to fix that? Soon you will be sparring me. "
"Why thank you, sir?" Lucy smilingly took his hand as he guided her through some basic steps before calling it quits for the night.
"I don't want to be fearful every time I wander the streets." She had admitted on their second night of fighting. "That's a fear I have had since I was a child." Then Lucy told him something about her childhood that shocked him.
"The point of learning to fight isn't to fear an opponent coming. It's to prepare you once he gets here. When you brain stops," Natsu pointed to her noggin, "your muscles will remember. That's why we repeat movements. Repetition causes your natural reflex to attack and defend. We will make sure that you are never powerless."
"What about having Loke around? I don't want him getting shot by some spooked cowboy in town, but if he was around then nobody would ever attack."
"The cat is fine to guard here, but how does he react to people in public? Shooting him may not be the worst reaction. Instead you would have a situation where nobody would want to come up to you. Your gun on your hip should deter most criminals. Walk with confidence that you will use it. If they think that you won't use it, its a decorative ornament about as usesful as your earings. The message that your body language says is often the most important. When that doesn't work, as a female always have a secondary source to protect you. Don't just rely on your gun. I can come up behind you, stealing it easily. Then what would you do? Use your hands. Use your feet. Or pick up something, use the environment - anything from a large stick to a rock."
He took a hunting knife out of his boots. "See even I have secondary weapons always on my body."
"I have daggers and knives, not sure if any are small enough to put in my boots."
Natsu scowled at the blade before handing it to her. "Take this." She accepted the obecting ,admiring the fine craftsmanship for a brief second before refocusing her gaze onto Natsu.
"This looks special, not cheap. Someone put alot of energy into this blade. It even has a design on the side. Flames?"
"My dad made that knife." Natsu slide a finger down the side before flipping her whole hand over to showcase the backside. "The flames are coming from the handle, shooting upward before spiraling out of control. They say that the most beautiful metals are forged from the fire of a dragon's breath. That's actually where the Dragneel motto originated - 'through fire I become.'" He warn her about the curse of the dagger - how bad things seemed to follow those who used it.
Immediately, Lucy tried to give the object back to him but he told her to keep it until her fighting skills were better.
"I don't believe in bad luck or good luck. Besides aren't you Lucky Lucy Heartfilia? If anyone can battle a curse, it's you." He had smiled while petting her forehead.
"WHOEVER IS USING MY BATH BETTER GET THE HELL OUT!" sounded a screech from the living room snapping him back to the present. The sound startled him so bad that his head fell from balancing on the rim while having his legs precociously hang over the sides.
Sputtering, he muttered, "Speak of the devil."
A door slammed echoing with a resilient thud throughout the kitchen. He barely shook his pink locks when the screen flew down. A very angry blonde fumed unapologetically, "I swear Sting if its y….!" Lucy yelled before instantly yipping and turning around, covering her eyes.
His legs had still been hanging over the edge, leaving all his manhood on display in full glory.
"Well they say," Natsu said quickly lifting his legs to place his lower body back in the tub, "if you can't handle the meat, get out of the kitchen."
"It's 'heat' not 'meat." She whimpered openly now, whether from anger or embarrassment, Natsu was not sure.
He smirked, knowing good and well the original version, "What is?"
"The saying….. 'If you can't handle the heat.'" She bit off before mouthing a silent, "Why me?"
"But meat is more applicable in this situation. While you are here, would you mind washing my back." He found the soap under his rear before holding it up.
"No!" The girl rotated toward him, peeking to see that he was at least sitting in the water. "Get out! So I can use my water!"
The man shrugged while reaching to find his soap that disappeared somewhere around the bottom during all the ruckus. He pointedly glanced between the tub and her face as he asked, "Why don't you make me?"
"Because I just spent the last hour boiling that water. Then I had to leave to help Mira up the stairs. She's having dizzy spells. I'm just so tired right now."
"What's wrong with her?" While Natsu acted like an uncaring brute at times, he did really care about the people on the ranch. The last few weeks had been the longest time he had stayed with anyone outside his field troop or his family.
"She's getting close to her due date. Her body is adjusting. The baby might come any day. Now get!" Lucy slapped the soap from his hand, which went sailing across the kitchen floor.
"We can bathe together." The ranger offered, hopefully.
"Uh? How about no. And we wouldn't both fit in that."
"We could. You would just have to sit on my lap and wrap your legs around my wa…"
"LIKE I WOULD DO THAT!"
"Ok I will get up." Natsu stood obediently, taking a step out of the tub.
She rushed out of the kitchen, still red faced.
"Let me leave the room first!"
He sighed, "Well there goes my muscle relaxer."
Natsu barely got dryed with his pants pulled up when he heard a group of horses coming up to the house. He grabbed his gun walking to the front door. Opening it, he saw army uniforms with Lucy waving her arms at a dark headed man with a scar across his face.
Lucy dipped herself into the water, silently grumbling at Natsu. It was more warm than hot plus a bit soapy from his use. It is very common of people to share bathwater. Normally at the ranch, when the girls wanted a hot bath, they would bath in the kitchen. The males had an old iron tub they used which would be sat on the back porch behind the kitchen.
She pleaded for her aching muscles to go away, wondering what new methods of torture she would have to encounter fighting later, but reminding herself this was the same water that touched Natsu's skin.
The blonde breathed heavily as she began washing.
Normally she would sit longer but the image of naked Natsu now was permanently associated with the tub, the water, and… the kitchen. When she had turned around after he had repositioned himself, her eyes slipped downward to the area at his waist where tawny muscles met a pink haired V-line that disappeared under the water.
Lucy scolded herself for practically drooling on him but then smiled. It was only fair for her to perv out on him since he always did it to her.
Maybe she could use that to her advantage. Natsu didn't think she would take him down. She had wanted to prove him wrong. If she couldn't do it with physical means, maybe she could distract him.
"Tonight I am going to win!" Stubborn and determined, she decided to win with any means necessary.
A knock came on the door. "Hey Lucy."
For a second, she couldn't breathing, thinking he would barge in on her the way she did him. Swiftly she covered herself with a towel as she groaned, "What do you want?"
"I got to go to the Fort. Going to take Pantherlily if its ok."
Lucy froze. He didn't have to run anything by her. He could leave as he choose.
"Why are you asking me? You don't need permission. You're practically family now."
"I just wanted to tell you. Not sure what time I will be back. So don't stay up. We probably won't have time to sp..."
"No!" Lucy barked aggressively, silencing him as she ran to the door still in her towel. She didn't open it though.
"No?" He questioned.
She placed a hand on the door imagining Natsu on leaning on the other side.
"No I have a reason to stay up. You promised you wouldn't stop practicing sparring with me until you thought I was ready to go toe to toe with you. That means no matter how tired I am tonight. No matter what time you come in at. I will wait for you out in the field."
Silence then a small, "Okay."
He didn't move. The revelation made Lucy smile. Since she didn't say anything else, his footsteps eventually shuffled along the floor until she could no longer hear them.
… That night she sat on a blanket in the field waiting.
And waiting.
Natsu never came.
It had to have been close to morning when she headed back to the house. The stars were disappearing as light started to appear over the fields. So disgusted with herself for wasting a whole night, she tripped over a root of some sort, not paying attention.
Sharp pain exploded in Lucy's head when her face smashed against a fence post. The shock caused her to fall to the ground, stunned. Darkness enveloped the area when her lantern tilted. The flame snuffed out.
Lucy sat down, feeling lonely with a tad bit of rejection. A yawn caused her face to ache. Her mind knew he probably was too busy to come home. She leaned against the post, wrapping herself in a blanket.
The sandman had barely touched her when a voice startled her awake.
"What do we have here?"
A voice that sent a shiver through her body.
Still disoriented, she peered up in time to see Jacob's face grinning down at her. Pure and absolute terror began to register before something struck her head.
"No! Don't black ou..." She mumbled to herself, battling her body to stay conscious. Lucy couldn't manage a scream. Images flickered across her swimming vision.
How stupid am I? Asleep outside without anyone knowing? That's like asking Phantom S to kill me.
Then a second hit caused a feeling of absolute nothingness to wash over her.
Blessedly, she didn't feel the man trace her waist. Or rub the skin around her neckline before cupping her face, whispering...
"I missed you, darling."
Next chapter: Loke
AN: So this update was a bit late. It's hard to keep this schedule of updating twice per week. Also I am thinking of moving the story to having an "M" rating. Not 100% sure of how dark I want to make this next subplot. So Jacob has Lucy. The one she was scared of and he took her as she was waiting for Natsu. Next chapter has a surprising ending. Although... This chapter was rather trollish... It was dedicated to teaching her how to fight and then she gets kidnapped. At least, she has Igneel's dagger.
AND I PASSED MY BOARDS! Whoop!Whoop!
Thanks to the reviewers: sarara1.8 - Emperor Zeref Dragneel - 4evrtDorkly17 - Juvia is my spirit animal - MakeiraSakura - Guest - Sarana34 - HammyJessa - Guest - JadeDragonXx
Also I want to promote Cyber Space is Always Sweeter by ChaoticCatastrophe1 - It is really good, but only has a handful of followers/favorites/reviewers. So this is my action of world peace for today. Go read that instead of doing naughty things to people. If you don't like it… come back and complain to me. Love you guys! Peace out until Saturday!