A/N: It's been a week, I feel pretty good all things considered, hope you enjoy this chapter!
The large tree in front of Natsu splintered in half as the large animal broke it in half like a twig, unlike the Vulcan's of Mt Hakobe, these mountain Vulcan's were less ape-like, the thing in front of him was no exception, It's leathery skin looked tough and he knew from experience it was, that skin was as good as any magic armor, large riveted spikes ran up its outer arm, two large fangs protruded outward from its face, much like warthog tusks, the thing growled at him and bared it's teeth, showing a row and sharpened canines as its eyes followed his movements, Natsu watched the creature carefully, stepped sideways and making sure to keep his distance, obviously someone had disturbed this things winter hibernation and now he was its ideal snack choice, the things large clawed hand raked the ground leaving deep furrows in the earth as it roared at him before charging towards him.
Natsu dived out of the way and closed his fist, a large burst of fire enveloped his hand before flowing forwards off of the top of his wrist and sharpening to a point, Natsu was not renowned as one of the world's strongest wizards because he had slouched, he had trained his magic and his mind to be sharp weapons over the years at the guild, the lumbering Vulcan turned to face him, seemingly more angry than before, it barreled towards him again, he dived to the side and rolled to his feet, lashing out with the blade of fire and slicing clean through the Achilles heel of the creature, the monster let out a roar of pain and swiped at him, Natsu crossed his arms in front of him as the blow slammed into his guard, the spikes on the outside of the beasts arm embedded into his left forearm and he groaned in pain as he slammed into a tree at the opposite side of the clearing, The beast got up slowly, not deterred by its leg wound, it lumbered towards him, appearing to savor the ease of its kill, albeit its pace had slowed considerably. Natsu glared at the monster as it neared him and got to his feet slowly, blood dripping from his arm and the side of his mouth, he spat a small amount of coagulated blood from his mouth and wiped the excess from his chin, clenching his fists he let out a roar as flame engulfed him, his eyes shifted the pupils taking on cat like slits as his hair whipped around his head from the force of his magic, the Vulcan faltered slightly leaning a little too heavily on its weakened heel the beast began to topple backwards, Natsu lowered himself and shot forward leaving a large crater at his jump point, he slammed into the beasts stomach, it threw a clawed hand at him and he flipped over the blow landing deftly on the limp before sprinting towards its face along its arm he jumped forward and the fire flowed forward and sharpened in front of him, he drove the fiery blade into its eye, the thing let out a thunderous roar and swatted at him, focusing on the blade he made it longer as he ran over the top of the monsters head and down it's back, he stopped on the ground gripped the line of fire running from his hand and yanking back hard, the beasts head slammed into the ground and showered dirt over him, he let the spell fade and pulled up his other hand forcing his fire into a blade he shoved it into the top of the Vulcan's head, the thing stopped struggling and Natsu sagged, placing his hands on his knees as he sucked in air greedily, he straightened and took another deep breath before walking towards the place he had told Happy to go.
Erza pulled the fabric her mate had given her a little tighter around her, a feeling of worry was locked in her stomach as she watched the forest, from where they were they could hear the roars of the beast and according to the small blue feline, her mate as well, they had abruptly ceased a few moments ago.
"Don't worry about Natsu," Happy said nonchalantly "He might get dinged up, but there is no way a Mountain Vulcan is going to beat him, even one as large as that."
"I can't help but worry," Erza responded quickly "I just found him, he can't go off and get himself killed now."
"I told you, he is probably one of the strongest mages in the world, he will be fine." Happy was slightly more determined than before, Erza turned to look at the small feline, she noticed something different, he was worried about his friend too, he was just trying to keep his mind on something else, she decided to drop it.
She sat beside the small cat on one of the many tree stumps that dotted the space they were in "Your right, he seemed confident back there, he will beat it."
Happy chuckled and nodded "Glad you agree."
"Well, good to see you two getting so chummy," The voice caused both of them to rip around, Happy launched himself at Natsu latching onto his head before settling himself on Natsu's shoulder, Erza brought a hand to her mouth and let out a slow gasp, she looked at the three puncture wounds on Natsu's right forearm, blood flowed freely from those wounds, a smaller trickle of crimson flowed from his left eye "Happy, I am going to need the medical supplies in your pack."
"Aye, Sir!" Happy chirped, jumping from his friends shoulder and pulling the small green pack from his own shoulders, opening the thing he pulled a small box from it, the thing had bandages and a needle and thread, as well as a small bottle of disinfectant that Natsu almost never used, he could just boil his blood to get rid of infection.
Erza was on her feet and beside Natsu in the blink of an eye, the pulled the box from Happy and sat Natsu down slowly, she grabbed his hand slowly and pulled the arm up so she could see better, she wiped a tear from her eye as she looked at the wounds.
"I am the one bleeding, why are you crying?" Natsu asked jokingly as he noticed the moisture around her eyes.
"Because, I just found you," Erza repeated resolutely "You aren't allowed to die on me."
Natsu felt a twinge of regret as he looked at the determined and at the same time sad expression of the girl in front of him, he bowed his head slightly "I'm sorry, I will be more careful."
The smile on her face made him feel better, she quickly got to work sewing him up and bandaging his wounds, Natsu watched her work quietly, he was more just admiring the girl he had quite literally stumbled upon in the forest, he finished the bandaging and he rose his arm and investigated the bind, nodding his head "Where'd you learn to do this?"
"They teach us at school," Erza answered "We need to be prepared to treat any problems our mates may have fighting or hunting."
"I still don't know if I am actually your mate," Natsu admitted as he got to his feet "How do you know it is me?"
"Well, as you can probably guess, I am not the only one of my kind," Erza replied as she got to her feet and followed after him "There are all sorts of us, from wolf type's to cat types like me, and we all have different methods for seeking out our mates, my species main sense is smell, we use it to hunt and for females to find our mates, some of us use hearing and the Bat types use a weird sound and can determine their mates off of the echo that comes back, isn't that weird?"
Natsu shook his head slightly "Um, yeah…I guess." 'it all sounded weird to him, but he understood slightly.'
"So when you smelt me back in the forest, you figured out I was your mate?" Natsu asked, even though it was more for confirmation at this point.
Erza nodded "Exactly."
Natsu nodded "So there are more like you?"
Erza nodded excitedly "Yes, we are much like the Animals of your world, only we are human, as you can see, but yes, there are Arachnid types and even a few Aquatic Types, although I never got to speak with them much."
Natsu forced the mental picture of a person with eight eyes from his head and was silently glad that a more normal type had decided he was her mate, he continued in silent contemplation for a few minutes before he realized they had arrived in town and he and his companion were garnering some attention, he heard a loud squeal and he paled slightly, grabbing Erza's arm he pulled her into a store to his left and thanked whatever god was watching over him when it was a clothing store, he pulled Erza along behind him and closed a changing room door behind him, locking it with a small click, he listened closely, a loud set of footsteps ran by the store front before fading out, he sighed and opened the door and stepped out.
The store clerk stared at him in surprise, Natsu looked at his reflection in the mirror and he wasn't surprised, he looked much like death warmed up, Erza walked up and peered into the corner of his vision carefully.
"Why did we run in here?" She asked innocently.
"Well, at first it was to hide and now I am thinking you could use some clothes, you can't just run around in my cloak forever." Natsu answered simply.
Erza smirked "Does this mean you want me around? Do you maybe like me?"
Natsu tilted his head "I like you, I think…I want to learn more about you before I make a definitive answer."
Erza nodded and Natsu continued "Do you see anything you like in this store?"
"NATSU!" The voice cut Erza off and she looked at the door to the shop, a blonde woman stood on the doorway and she was apparently angry at her mate, she watched the woman's movements carefully.
"You were supposed to be back hours ago! What have you been doing?!" The blonde demanded walking towards him.
"Ran into a mountain Vulcan and had a few problems with a the delivery," His eyes shifted to Erza for a moment before turning back to her "When did you get so stressed over the little stuff luce?"
"When the master get's on my case about you being late, that's when I stress over the little stuff!" Lucy shouted angrily.
"Alright calm down," Natsu replied showing his palms "I will get up to the guild soon, I am just going to help her get some clothes."
Lucy seemed to notice someone else was there for the first time, her gaze shifted to Erza and Erza returned the look calmly, if her mate could take her anger in stride she could too.
"Natsu, when did you get into the business of kidnapping?" Lucy asked sarcastically.
"Whatever," Natsu responded "Erza, Lucy, Lucy, Erza, Lucy is my old teammate and Erza is well…Erza."
"Hello." Erza said simply.
"Natsu, I am going to have a little girl talk with Erza, why don't you go and deliver the box." Lucy said simply.
Natsu rolled his eyes, he leaned towards Erza slightly "Whatever happens don't injure her, that will cause me some problems, I will tell Happy to come down and take you back to my house, I need to go report to my guild."
Erza nodded in understanding and leaned forward, placing a small peck on Natsu cheek "I can handle myself, I will see you later."
Natsu nodded and left the store.
A/N: The ending is a little rushed, I might edit it a bit later…but I am kinda sleepy and I haven't eaten yet so I am calling it here! Hope you all enjoyed and I will see you in tomorrow's chapter!
