The next morning Natsu woke up with a start. An unfamiliar noise had startled him out of sleep and as he sat up he heard it again. He glanced over at the other side of the room just in time to see Erza's chest rise and fall and a snore emit from her mouth. He gaped for a moment before chuckling and muttering under his breath, "This girl. I doubt she'll ever stop surprising me."

He threw on a shirt and quietly left the room. He made his way to the common area and saw Gajeel sitting at the dining table wolfing down a plate of eggs and bacon. He walked over to the table and smacked him on the head before sitting down. Gajeel nearly choked on his bacon and then rubbed a hand over his short spiky black hair where Natsu had struck him before saying, "What the hell was that for Salamander?"

Natsu shrugged, "Stop insinuating that I'm trying to sleep with every woman that I talk to. It's starting to become a pain in the ass."

The man shrugged his massive shoulders and went back to eating after saying, "It's been two years Salamander, you need to get laid."

Natsu ignored him glanced around, seeing some toast on a platter sitting in the middle of the table and grabbing it. He asked, "Who's on duty right now?"

Gajeel glanced out the window to judge the time by the sun's progress through the sky, the multiple piercings on his face gleaming, before saying, "Probably Fullbuster. He and Laxus had a bet going on the tournament, whichever one made it the farthest got his half of the shift taken by the other. They both got knocked out in the third round but Laxus argued that since Fullbuster lost to a girl that Laxus won the bet. Me and the Elf agreed. It's about eight so you have four more hours until you're on duty."

Natsu laughed, "That girl is sleeping fifteen feet away, you should probably not insult her too much or she might decide to teach you a lesson."

Gajeel snorted and turned his red eyes to the door to Natsu and Erza's room, "Just because you let her in doesn't mean I have to respect her. Sure she might be decent with a blade but she'll never be as good as a man at it. Not enough upper body strength."

The pink haired man shrugged and said, "Well, I'm going to go test her out to see just how good she is right now. I got a pretty good sense of it yesterday but this will really see."

Gajeel shrugged and said, "Do what you want. Maybe now you'll stop bitching about being alone on the afternoon shift."

The black haired man went back to eating and Natsu stood up to head back into his room, but stopped to grab another piece of toast. He opened the door and slipped in before closing it. Erza was still in the same place so he went over to her bed and shook her while saying brightly, "Get up. Time to start the day!"

She groaned and rolled away from him. He sat the toast down on her nightstand and grinned, shaking her again, "Last chance. Get up or I use this bucket of water."

She shot up and said, "Alright, alright, I'm up!"

He laughed and walked back to his side of the room and started rummaging around in the corner in a pile of clothes while saying, "Good. Now get up, have some toast, and let's get started."

She looked around and spotted the toast, picking it up and taking a bite before saying, "Start what?"

He pulled out a set of loose pants and a leather tunic, "Training of course. Have to train every day to keep your edge."

Erza nodded, "That is a good ide… what the hell are you doing?"

Natsu was currently in his underwear trying to put on the pants he'd pulled out. Her outburst had startled him and he'd fallen over. From his position on the ground he said, "What does it look like, I'm getting dressed! I can't train in my sleeping clothes."

Her face was red as she said, "Well, don't do it in front of me. Wait until I'm gone."

Natsu pulled on his pants and stood up laughing, "You're going to have a rough time if you keep trying to preserve the innocence of your eyes. You live with five guys now, and one of them is a stripper."

Erza's eyes bulged and the next words came out as a strangled gasp, "A stripper?"

Natsu sighed, "Yeah, Gray Fullbuster. Somehow he picked up an unconscious stripping habit from his teacher. I'm just thankful he can't do it in armor."

The red head was shocked, "You mean that knight I beat yesterday?"

Natsu nodded as he put the leather tunic on, "Yeah. He's on the guard. He's not really the one you should worry about though, you'll get used to the stripping."

His face turned serious as he continued, "Laxus, Gajeel, and Elfman are all big hulking brutes of men, and they act like it. They're not going to respect you, well; Elfman might if his sister makes him. Laxus and Gajeel are going to try and walk all over you and bully you. I'd advise you to not let them or your life here is going to be a living hell."

Erza nodded, "I can deal with men like that."

Natsu walked over and clapped her on the shoulder with a smile, "Great, now let's get down to the training yard and see what you're really made of."

He walked out of the room into the empty common area and surmised that Gajeel had left to go somewhere. It took Erza a moment to put on her clothes but she was soon out and he led her down to the training yards in the back of the castle. There were already many of the regular castle guards bustling about doing drills or individual training. Most of them stopped and stared when Natsu and Erza walked into the yard. The two ignored them and went over to an area that held wooden swords, but the real shields. Natsu also found two pairs of chainmail for them and when Erza looked at it questioningly he said, "Always train like you're actually in a fight. Wear some armor, use a real shield. If I could get away with it I'd train with a real sword but nobody wants to lose an arm."

Erza nodded and he handed her the chainmail. He wriggled into his and felt it fall around his body. Natsu checked to make sure that it was sitting right and then moved to pick up a shield and practice sword. He checked the heft on the sword to make sure that it was as close to correct as possible and then nodded to himself. He turned and saw Erza similarly armed and motioned for her to follow him to an empty area off to the side.

They got there and he faced her and said, "Alright. We'll start half speed to warm up. When I say so we'll move to full speed. This is just simple sparring."

She nodded and he moved forward, swinging his sword at her head. She blocked and retaliated and for a few minutes they sparred slowly. Neither of them noticed that the training yard had all but come to a complete stop to watch them. One guard whispered to another, "I heard that the woman there nearly beat the Salamander in a sword fight at the tournament yesterday and he was so impressed he got the king to put her on the guard."

Another laughed at him, "No way, the Salamander is the best in Fiore with a sword. I bet he just wants to sleep with her. It's been what, two years since his fiancée died? I'd be willing to bet he hasn't gotten any since then."

A third guard came over and said, "I was actually there, unlike you two idiots. He did it to piss off the king. You both know that his other two requests after winning a tournament were denied right? King couldn't deny a third request so the lady got on the guard. She might be good, or he might be trying to get laid, but neither of those were the main reason."

The first two nodded sagely before a drill instructor yelled at them to get back to work.

Natsu had worked up a decent sweat so he motioned for Erza to stop and said, "Alright. We're going full speed now. Give me everything you've got."

She nodded and preempted his signal to begin by letting out a shout and charging at him. He grinned and blocked her first blow before countering. She was forced to jump back but came right back in, attacking furiously trying to find a way through Natsus defenses. For a solid minute she hammered away at him and he defended with ease, neatly picking off attack after attack. Finally she overextended and Natsu was able to trip her and put his blade at her throat. She said, "I yield."

Natsu stepped back and motioned for her to get back up before saying, "Again."

They repeated the same process three times. Erza furiously trying to break Natsus defenses and then him going on the offensive and ending it quickly. After the third time Erza shouted, "How are you so good? This is ridiculous!"

He lowered his sword and shield as she stood up shaking with anger and said simply, "I don't get cut."

She looked at him quizzically, "What do you mean?"

Natsu shrugged, "Before every fight I tell myself, 'You are not going to get cut', and I don't get cut."

Erzas mouth dropped open and she said, "That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

The pink haired knight laughed ruefully, "Yeah it is pretty stupid. Really it's just instinctual. From watching you fight I can tell you what your biggest flaw is, you think too much. There's always a split second of hesitation in whatever you do and I'm able to use that to my advantage. When I'm fighting I let loose, don't think, and let my arms and legs do the talking. They've never let me down before."

Erza said, "Alright, I guess I see what you mean. Let's go one more time."

Natsu nodded and brought his weapons up into the guard position and with a shout, attacked Erza. He noticed immediately that she was taking his advice and letting her instincts take over. He grinned and they fought for a good five minutes before he was finally able to knock her down with his shield and force her to yield. He said, "Much better."

She growled angrily, "But it's not good enough!"

Natsu stepped back and shrugged, "You don't have to be the best. You just have to be better than everyone that you're going to fight. This is just training."

Erza stood up and ignored him walking over to the gear area and ripping her shield off. He shouted after her, "Hey, we're not done here!"

He was surprised when she grabbed a second sword and walked back over to him. He said cautiously, "Nobody can fight with two longswords. Two weapons of the same length are going to get in each others way and you'll only end up hurting yourself."

Erza spat, "Shut up and fight me."

Natsu shrugged and raised his weapons, "Suit yourself."

She initiated the attack this time, coming in high and low with her weapons. Natsu picked off the high one with his shield and knocked the low one away with his sword before stepping forward to try and punch Erza with the pommel of his sword. She jerked her head to the side and brought both swords around in and attacked his middle from both sides. He had to jump back to avoid her strike and when the swords had harmlessly passed him he brought his sword up and swung overhand at her. She brought her swords up quickly and had them in a crossed X to catch his blade.

He'd anticipated this and the moment she did he swung his shield trying to hit her with the edge of it. It connected with her right arm and she stumbled backwards. Natsu tried to capitalize on it but she'd recovered and was coming at him with a series of short savage thrusts trying to overwhelm his defenses. Natsu was caught off guard and had trouble defending against them, backpedaling as he tried to knock them all away. He grimaced and thought, 'I've never seen anything like this before. How do those blades not get tangled up with each other?'

He was surprised when she suddenly switched from thrusting to a series of lightning fast cuts that came in from varied angles. They bounced off of his sword and shield and then came back in at a different angle, making it incredibly difficult to keep blocking. Natsu decided it was his turn to on the offensive so he jumped backwards as two of her strikes came in and she stumbled forward slightly due to her momentum. She recovered just as he'd rushed back in and sent his own series of attacks her way. Her twin swords worked in concert to defeat each attack as she slowly backed away.

They kept fighting around the training yard, neither of them able to gain an advantage. All of the guards had come to a complete standstill, even the guard captains, to watch the incredibly feat of swordplay. The fact that someone, a woman no less, was pushing Natsu to the limit was incredible. Doing it with two swords instead of the traditional sword and shield was a feat verging on legendary. All of the guards watched in awe as they fought around the training yard for twenty minutes straight. A pair of piercing red eyes were also watching and Gajeel gave a deep snort before turning to walk away and muttering, "Well Salamander, you sure know how to pick 'em."

The fight came to a sudden halt when Natsu roared and made a bull rush forward with his shield held out in front, knocking Erza over. Before he could put his blade at her throat though she kicked him in the legs and he fell over as well. Natsu rolled towards her and swung his blade from his position on the ground at her and connected, feeling it slam into the chainmail covering her chest. At the same moment though he felt one of her swords jab him in the stomach. They both came to a complete stop and stared at each other.

The training yard erupted in clapping as the guards cheered for the two. A grin slowly grew on Natsu's face as he stood up and pulled Erza up with him. He watched as the scarlet haired woman looked around at the cheering guards and saw the smile that came to her face at their cheering. He laughed, "I knew I made the right choice. Excellent. That was excellent. I have never seen anything like that in my life."

Erza blushed at the praise, "Really? Fighting with two swords is that uncommon?"

Natsu exclaimed excitedly, "Uncommon? To my knowledge it's never been done! You are a one of a kind swordsman… woman."

The scarlet haired woman shrugged, "It's how I fought during the rebellion in Crocus."

He asked her, "Why did you switch to sword and shield then, if you're this good at using two swords?"

She laughed, "That's the predominant style of the knight, so I figured that I would have to learn it make it onto the castle guard."

Natsu replied, "You're probably right, but I don't care, you can use whatever weapons you want if you're that good. That's a damn unique style and I'm not letting you leave the guard even if you want to."

Erza laughed again, "Well, I don't think I want to go anywhere so you won't have a problem with that."

The pink haired knight grinned as he began stripping off his shield and chainmail, "Good. But, we have to go on duty soon so I have some things I need to explain. We should get going."

Erza nodded and took off her practice gear before following him back into the castle. They went back up to their floor and headed into the guards quarters. Natsu said, "Alright, time for a bath. I'll explain everything in there."

Erza stiffened and didn't follow as he headed to their room and stuttered… "I… I… ha…have to bathe with you?"

Natsu ignored her and went into their room and exited a moment later carrying a set of clothes for him and some for her. He tossed them to her and she caught them on reflex as he said, "Well, the guards have one room for bathing, and none of us have anything to be shy about."

He laughed as he walked out of the room and she mutely followed him. They went down the hall and a flight of steps before walking into a small plain room that had two bathtubs in it. Natsu went over to one of them and fiddled with a knob and in short order water began to pour out. He stuck his hand under it to make sure it was the right temperature and nodded to himself. Erza couldn't help but be curious and asked, "How does that work? I've never seen a bathtub like that."

Natsu shrugged, "Hell if I know. The engineer that built this castle was a genius. All I know is that they have criminals in the basement working some cranks and the result is hot water all the way up here."

He took off his shirt and tossed it in a hamper with his name on it and noticed that the redness had come back to Erza's face. Natsu sighed and said, "If you're really that embarrassed I can go grab a screen divider."

She nodded and Natsu left the room, coming back a few minutes later with the divider and setting it up between their bathtubs. He ignored her as she quickly went behind the divider and took off the rest of his clothes before sliding into his hot bath. He heard her do the same a moment later but he concentrated on luxuriating in the water. She said after a moment, "I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe I'm bathing in the same room as a man."

Natsu laughed easily, "Relax. I'm not going to attack you or anything."

Erza replied curiously, "Which surprises me. Any man that I've known would have immediately tried something. Are you married, or with someone?"

Natsu's face fell and he sighed, "I was. But not anymore."

Her voice floated over the divider, "Why not?"

He said bitterly, "She's dead."

He heard her sharp intake of breath and then she said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry."

Natsu shook his head, even though he knew she couldn't see him, and said, "Don't be. I dug into your past, it's only natural you would want to know mine."

Erza said cautiously, "So, if you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

Natsu sunk deeper into the water as he began to talk, "Well, it happened two years ago. It was my first year on the Princess's guard. I was the newest and youngest. The Queen and Princess had decided to take a trip to some backwater country I can't remember the name of…"

Natsu tried not to let the sweat running down the back of neck bother him to much as he rode behind the other knights of the Princess' guard. They were riding two abreast on the right side of the carriage that held the princess and Queen as well as their respective handmaidens. The guards dedicated to the queen rode the same way on the other side, and a small troop of men-at-arms rode behind the party. Natsu grinned as he thought about Lisanna, who he'd asked Lucy to bring as a favor to him. Lisanna was his childhood friend turned lover and fiancée. He glanced at the carriage and could just make out through the small window her short white hair and bright smile as she talked with the other women.

They had been out on the road for a few hours and it was the middle of the afternoon. He felt tired, even though his horse had been doing all of the work. They came to a point in the road that ran between two hills and Natsu perked up thinking, 'This is a good spot for an ambush, I should be on my guard.'

The carriage passed through without incident but Natsu's sigh of relief was cut short by shouting from the men-at-arms behind them still between the hills. When he looked back he could see that archers had somehow gotten onto the top of the hills and were raining arrows down on the panicked soldiers. A moment later more men on horses poured out from behind the hills and charged into the party of men at arms. Natsu's shock was broken when the leader of the princess's guards shouted, "Quickly! We must get the royal women away from here!"

He turned to look back at Clemas the Crusher, head of the princess' guard as he shouted orders. Quickly they'd taken the frightened Princess and Lisanna out of the carriage and set them on horses with one of their guards. Since he was the newest, Natsu got to take charge of Lisanna, not that he minded. Her safety was almost as important to him as the Princess'.

Clemas conferred for a moment with the head of the Queen's guard as the men-at-arms bought them time behind the party before shouting, "Alright. We'll split up and try and make our way back to Magnolia. Let's go!"

The party with the princess broke right and the Queen's party went left. Lisanna had her arms wrapped tightly around his waist and he head buried in his neck trying to hold on as the horse flew over rough land and into the forest. He was at the back of the party and so he glanced back to see if there was any pursuit. He gulped when he saw that a party of at least twenty had broken away from the fight and was bearing down on his group of eight.

He yelled up to Clemas, "There's at least twenty of them coming for us!"

The large man turned his head to look back over his shoulder and over Lucy who was hanging on to him for dear life. Clemas cursed and said, "We won't be able to outrun them, not with two of us riding double."

Both the Princess and Lisanna started sniffling and Natsu could feel Lisanna's tears sliding down the back of his neck and under the collar of his chainmail. Clemas made a snap decision and yelled, "Alright. Natsu, take the Princess and the other girl ahead. The rest of us are going to fight a holding action. Jaryn! Give the girl your horse, the Princess gets mine!"

In the few seconds it took to get the horses situated, and as they all listened to the whoops of their attackers get closer through the woods, Natsu asked Clemas, "Are you sure? I can send them on and stay and fight with you."

The older man nodded and Natsu could make out a smile under his helmet, "Someone has to guard the Princess at all times. If we fall here you're her last hope to get back to Magnolia."

Clemas quickly pulled out his sword, the captain of the guards sword, and said, "Hand over yours boy, and hold onto this one until I get back."

Natsu mutely drew his and switched swords with Clemas, feeling the weight of the Guard Captain's ornate but functional sword in his hand. Clemas shouted, "Now go! We'll kill these bastards and meet you back at the city!"

He nudged his horse forward to where the two girls sat on theirs and nodded to his fellow guardsmen before spurring his horse forward, hearing the girls do the same behind him. A few moments later the sounds of metal crashing together and men screaming in pain sounded behind him, but soon it became faint as they put distance between the doomed guards and themselves."

Their horses sprinted for about a mile until Natsu slowed down and halted in a small clearing. He said, "We need to get our bearings and then head back."

He glanced into the sky to check the position of the sun and muttered, "So that ways north then. We've been traveling east, so… this way."

He was about to head in the direction he'd indicated when he heard a buzzing sound like a wasp and then something hit his helmet at high speeds. He was disoriented for a moment as the arrow bounced off of his helm but when he looked in the direction it had come from he saw two men charging out of the tree line, one of them throwing a way a bow and pulling out a sword. He yelled at the girls, "Run! I'll take care of them!"

He spun his horse and pulled the captains sword out and slinging his shield around from his back to his arm before charging at the two men. He attempted to get in the way of both but one went around him and the other engaged him, swinging his sword in a high overhand arc at Natsu. He blocked it and sent a lightning quick slash across the man's throat which opened it up and blood spurted out as he fell from the horse. Natsu turned just in time to see the other bandit slash at Princess Lucy and the girl dive off of her horse to avoid the sword. He spurred his horse towards her and shouted, hoping to get the man's attention. It didn't work though and the man leaned over to stab viciously down at the stunned Princess. Natsu saw a blur of movement as Lisanna threw her own body over the Princess and watched in horror as the sword pierced her back and drove through her body to stick in the ground inches from the Princess.

He screamed and as the bandit withdrew his sword and leaned back up Natsu reached the man he swung his sword with all his strength, decapitating the man, sending his head flying and his body slumping over and off the horse.

Natsu slugged his horse to a stop and leapt off running over to where Lisanna was now lying on her back with her head on the Princess lap. He went down to his knees and wrenched her away from the Princess, pressing his hands to the wound her back and front trying to staunch the blood. There was blood leaking out of Lisannas mouth as she coughed and said, "I don't think that's going to work now. You'd better go and get the Princess out of here."

Natsu felt hot tears run down his face as he said, "No. No! I'm not leaving you behind."

She gave a small gurgling laugh as pain wracked her body and said, "I don't think you have much of a choice Natsu."

He stopped trying to staunch the blood and threw his arms around her, pulling her to him and cradling her in his lap. He sobbed, "But, I love you so much. You can't leave me now. We're going to get married and have twenty kids and Mira is going to spoil all of them rotten and Elfman is going to teach them how to be men."

A small smile appeared on Lisanna's face as she looked into his eyes and choked out, "I love you too. I'm sorry that we can't do all those things… But you… have to remember… duty. I swore my life… to the princess just like you. Just remember… don't waste your life… because you don't…. have me…"

Her last words trailed off and her eyes clouded over. A moment later her head lolled to the side and Natsu pulled her close to him, not caring for the blood he was getting all over his armor, and buried his face into her hair sobbing. It was only for a few seconds though as he remembered her last words and looked up to see the Princess's tear stained and shell shocked face sitting on the ground next to him.

He let go of Lisanna and gently placed her on the ground before walking over to the Princess and pulling her up saying, "Come. We can't let her sacrifice and the sacrifice of the others go to waste. Let's go."

The Princess barely responded and Natsu had to put her on her horse before mounting his own and then leading her through the woods. He glanced back at Lisanna's body lying by itself in the middle of the clearing and then looked forwards, tears staining his face but the sobs no longer wracking his body as he focused on doing his duty, just like she wanted him to.

By the time he was finished with his story Natsu had washed, dried and gotten dressed, and was leaning against the wall waiting for Erza to finish. He said quietly, "The Princess and I were the only ones to make it back. The castle sent out a war party but nobody ever found any of the bodies, Only the bloodstains in the forest and on the road."

Erza finished and came around the divider, not missing the redness in his eyes that indicated crying. She said, "I'm sorry. I… I'm sorry for making you remember that."

He gave her a small smile and said, "Don't be. I moved past it a long time ago."

Natsu turned and left saying, "Come on, it's just about time for you to really meet the Princess."

{A/N} Hi Guys.

So, recently my girlfriend of 3.5 years broke up with me, so I've kind of lost a lot of motivation to write. It's kind of hard to be writing romance when the relationship I was drawing a lot of inspiration from is over. I'll try to keep updating my other stories but it'll probably be pretty slow. This one will be my main focus since the romance is going to be a slow burn and swords and shields and knights and shining armor is pretty fun to write so I've got a bit of motivation. I'm sorry if I'm disappointing people by this.

Thanks for reading anyways. Andril