Previously on Dragonball Z… Just kidding! Just kidding! Welcome back my awesome readers to another chappie of "Hey There!" Anyways, time for the next installment of our story!

Disclaimer: Don't get any ideas. I don't own anything!

Hey There… Ch. 8

Lucy woke up from a really nice dream to the sound of yelling and the weight of a person on her chest.

"Wake up! Wake up Luce! Rise 'n shine sleepy head! Daylight's a wastin'!"

"Five more minutes," Lucy groaned as she put her pillow over her head to complete her ninja act of disappearing into the bed.

"Luce! You said we were gonna start training today! You gotta get up!"

"Sshhh!" Lucy said as she put a shushing finger where her lips would've been if the pillow wasn't covering them. "I'm a ninja. Ninjas sleep in peace." At this ridiculous comment, Natsu burst into laughter.

"Luce, you can't do that to me!" Natsu said and wiped a tear from his eye. "You gotta get up ya weirdo. If you don't get up by the count of three, you're not going to like the consequences. One…" Lucy snuggled back under the covers. "Two…" Still no response from the blonde. "Three… Okay, you asked for it!" Natsu exclaimed and proceeded to tickle Lucy through the covers.

Lucy howled with laughter and squirmed, but didn't get up out of bed. I guess it's time to kick it up a notch… Natsu thought to himself and smirked. He then whipped back the covers and started tickling her bare flesh. Lucy was writhing under him, unable to take consistent breaths as she squealed and laughed until tears stung her eyes.

"Mercy! Mercy Natsu! I can't breathe! I'm getting up this time I promise!" Lucy wheezed between fits of laughter and Natsu relented and got off of her. Shoving the pillow off her face, Lucy rolled on her side and looked at the pinkette in disbelief. "W-why? Why would… you do that? I'm not going back to sleep," Lucy said between deep breaths as she flopped onto her back. "I just need to catch my breath…"

"You weren't getting up when I asked nicely!" Natsu replied cheerily and crossed his arms over his chest. "Plus, tickling people is one of my 101 secret specialties! You didn't have a chance to withstand that; even Gray admits defeat when I threaten him." That received an eyebrow raise from the blonde.

"Okay, I'll believe you for right now, but I'm going to have to confirm with Gray. By the way, what time is it?" Natsu snickered at the thought of Gray being asked about his secret talent.

"It's now 6:22 in the morning Luce! Time to start your training."

"WHAT THE HELL NATSU!" Lucy screeched while she launched out of bed to pummel Natsu for getting her up before the sun was shining.

"Mavis," Natsu chuckled as he blocked and dodged her blows. "You might not need training if come at your enemies like this…" He waited until she calmed down a bit before lowering his guard.

"How are you so energetic?" Lucy asked as she glared at the pink haired male in annoyance.

"I usually get up at this time to train. No one is usually in there at this time, so I figured you'd want to at least start training at this time in case you were uncomfortable with your skills in front of other people right now.

"You know, I'm kinda surprised you keep coming up with these good ideas because the way the other guild members treat you, you'd think you were a mindless pyromaniac, obsessed only with fighting people and setting things on fire-" Lucy put her hand over her mouth to stop her speech. She thought that those words were kept inside her head, but apparently not. Natsu looked at her briefly with a strange face that she was pretty sure she didn't like before it morphed into a careless grin.

"So, are you ready to train Luce? You're taking forever!" Natsu said and Lucy playfully shoved him.

"I just got out of bed! Get out of my room so I can change and I'll be ready in about 5 minutes." Lucy sighed in relief as Natsu shuffled out of the room. Walking over to her closet, she picked out a pair of shorts and sneakers that she could easily move around in, but frowned when she realized that she didn't pack any shirts that she could work out in. What am I going to do? Lucy thought as she wracked her brain for any solution. Practically no one was awake, so she couldn't ask any of the girls she knew to borrow a shirt…

"Hey Natsu?" Lucy voiced nervously.

"Yeah?"

"Can I borrow one of your shirts? I didn't realize I didn't bring any shirts to work out in until just this moment…" Lucy opened her bedroom door to see Natsu walking towards her, thinking about what to do. Lucy also took the time to notice that he was wearing a faded black t-shirt and gray gym shorts with a scarf… "Why are you wearing a scarf?"

"Oh, this?" Natsu said as he was brought out of his thought, fingering his white scaled scarf fondly. "It's something Igneel gave me… I usually always wear it, but since we've been butting heads with Phantom Lord a lot recently, Gramps told me that I should probably stop wearing it in public because it's kinda iconic…" Lucy sensed that she was treading into something that Natsu was probably uncomfortable with sharing with many people, so she decided to drop it.

"So can I borrow a shirt? I'll go get some t-shirts later on today, but I'm going to need one if we're going to start right now." This seemed to pull Natsu back to the present and he simply grinned and started taking his shirt off.

"Here ya go Luce. I don't feel like climbing back into my apartment to get a shirt, so I'll let you use this one," Natsu chirped brightly as he shed his shirt and gave it to a stunned Lucy.

"You're going to be the death of me, you know that?" Lucy muttered as she grabbed the shirt and stormed back into her room to finish changing. Holy Mavis! Lucy thought as she changed into her shorts and laced up her shoes. I figured he was pretty fit but seriously?!

She had nearly drooled when he revealed a perfectly sculpted abdomen and rippling arm muscles as she stripped off his shirt to give her. Maybe I should ask for shirts more often… Bad! Bad Lucy! She thought as she slipped the shirt on. Before she opened the door to leave, she casually sniffed the shirt and found that it smelled like pine trees, cinnamon, and campfire smoke. What an interesting combination.

"Hey Natsu, why do you smell like a campfire?" Lucy asked as she opened the door.

"What?" Natsu asked as he was confused by the question. "Where did that even come from?"

"Well… Your shirt… it smells like a campfire." And other things, but Lucy wasn't going to tell him that.

"That's what you're hung up on?" Natsu said as he raised an eyebrow. "I think it's time to go work out now because you're saying some really weird things Luce…" Natsu then spun on his heel away from Lucy and walked towards the door. Lucy puffed her cheeks out in annoyance, but silently followed the male out of her apartment and to the built in gym that was on the first floor behind the guild hall.

"This place is huge!" Lucy exclaimed as she stared at all the different fitness equipment lining the spacious room. There were treadmills, ellipticals, both free weights and machines, two full sized boxing rings, punching bags, work out mats, and all sorts of other random stuff that she didn't realize could be used as work out equipment.

"Why is there a car in here?

"Elfman likes using this particular model for his bench pressing," Natsu said without batting an eye and Lucy sweat dropped.

"You people are crazy!"

"Nah, we just like to be at the top of our game," Natsu grinned and brought Lucy over to one of the boxing rings and he jumped up over the railing into it. "C'mon slowpoke!" Lucy grudgingly took Natsu's outstretched hand and was tugged up and into the ring before she knew what happened.

"Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this?" Lucy muttered as she crossed her arms over her ample chest.

"Aw c'mon Luce! It'll be fun!" Natsu said as he dug as he around in a crate at the edge of the ring to bring up a pair of boxing gloves and a pair of focus mitts. "We're going to start with some boxing today and then do some cardio. Have you ever practiced with any of this before?"

"No. I barely work out as it is…" Lucy said as she strapped on the gloves.

"Okay, well we'll start out with some basic training. I want you to punch my mitts as hard as you can, as fast as you can. Make sure you use both of your fists. Oh! And if you wanna throw in some combos, feel free to do so."

Natsu started her out slow, letting her get a feel for what she was punching at before cueing her to start dodging and ducking slowly.

"Don't worry if it seems slow at first. I just want you to learn the motions now and we'll worry about speeding it up later."

"Okay," Lucy grunted as she punched into one of the mitts. She continued landing combos and dodging jabs and swipes from Natsu for a few more minutes before she decided to throw in a high kick. This caught the pinkette off guard and caused him to take a step back and grin.

"Nice one Lucy! You can go ahead and start throwing those in if you want," Natsu said chirped happily and started ever so slowly speeding up his movements. Lucy kept up with him for a while, but she swung too wide for a punch and he got in a swipe at her with more force than he intended. Lucy yelped in pain and touched her side while Natsu quickly discarded his mitts to inspect the damage, feeling absolutely horrible.

"Dammit! I'm sorry Luce. I didn't mean to hit ya that hard," Natsu apologized as he lifted her shirt to look at her affected side. He winced when he saw a bruise already forming.

"Natsu. Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed trying to get his attention away from her side to make eye contact. "It's okay! You're training me to fight; when I fight people for real, they aren't going to feel sorry about punching me. I think I'll be ok if I get knocked around a little bit. Thank you for not wanting to totally waste me though," Lucy said as she tried to lighten the mood. Natsu chuckled a bit at that and started walking to the edge of the ring.

"Okay… well we've been doing this for a while. Why don't we take a quick water break and then start you on the treadmill?" Lucy nodded and headed towards one of the water fountains for a drink. After drinking her fill, she splashed some water on her face before turning to face Natsu who was drinking out of the water bottle he brought with him.

You are so not playing fair Lucy's thoughts nagged her as she tried not to once again stare openly at his six pack, or his chiseled hip flexors that disappeared into the waistband of his gym shorts… Damn it… I'm doing it AGAIN. Lucy rubbed her face in an effort to divert her attention, and it worked because by the time she was done, Natsu had finished his water break.

"Okay! Let's get'cha on the treadmill," Natsu said and powered up the treadmill for Lucy to get on. "Go at your own pace, but I want you to keep your heart rate up. You're going to being going for at least 30 minutes this round. I wanna see you sweat! I'll just be over here putting the beat down on one of the punching bags. Let me know when you're finished and we'll move on to the next thing!" Natsu instructed and waited for Lucy to get into a rhythm before going over to set up a punching bag.

Lucy watched in awe as he strung it up from the 20 foot ceiling with ease and began wailing on it as soon as it started swinging towards him. His rippling muscles flowed powerfully into each punch as he landed blow after blow with ease on the bag. She easily lost track of time watching him work the bag with all the grace of a predator catching its kill, and when she glanced down at the display of her treadmill, she realized that 45 minutes had passed.

"Hey Natsu, I'm done!" Lucy breathlessly exclaimed as she hopped of the treadmill and moved back to the fountain to get another drink of water.

"Awesome!" Natsu replied as he similarly went to get some water. "After a quick drink, we'll get into some free weights, do you core on the mats over there, and then end with the punching bag. How does that sound?"

"Wonderful," Lucy sarcastically replied as she followed Natsu to the long rack of dumbbells. "I can't wait…"

"Aw don't be like that Luce," Natsu said goodnaturedly as he picked up two 60 pound dumbbells. "Go ahead and pick out a pair that you think you can deal with for about 20 minutes." Lucy groaned and shuddered at the pain that was to come. She eyed a pair of pink five pounders that looked just about her speed.

"How cute," Natsu joked as he readied his weights.

"You'll see how cute I am when I land a fist of wrath on your face," Lucy retorted as she shifted the pink weights in her hands.

"That's the spirit Luce!" Natsu chuckled. "Now, we'll begin with a simple bicep curl…"

"I don't think I'm going to be able to move for the next week!" Lucy whined into her breakfast as she finally sat down for the first time in two hours.

"What happened to you?" a brunette with purple eyes clad in a bikini top and capris asked as she walked over and sat with Lucy, Levy, and Erza.

"I worked out with Natsu this morning… I wanted to improve on my hand to hand combat skills and he offered to help. I didn't think that it would be that intense starting out. I'm sorry, but I don't think we've met; what's your name?" Lucy asked as she eyed the brunette throwing back a large tankard filled with what looked suspiciously like ale…

"My name's Cana blondie. Man, I didn't think that the pyromaniac had it in him, but he sure moves fast! How far did you and my bro Natsu get? Did ya-"

"I'm pretty sure that was not what Lucy meant by hand to hand combat… Right Lu-chan?" Levy asked as she watched her friend turn a color red that rivaled Erza's hair.

"We definitely didn't do anything like that!" Lucy stammered as she tried desperately to maintain composure. "Natsu was just showing me the ropes-"

"Ooh! You like it when the man take charge do you?" Cana said mischievously and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"N-no! That's not what I meant! I only-"

"Relax! Relax Blondie!" the brunette coolly curtailed Lucy's defense with a coy smile. "It's ok being nervous when you're new to something…" Cana trailed off and Lucy had the sneaking suspicion that this topic was not going to be forgotten any time soon.

"So how're ya feeling Luce?" Natsu cheerily asked as he brought his breakfast over to the group of women to join them. Levy giggled as she watched the blonde's face turn from momentary relief to horror and embarrassment in mere moments.

"Yeah 'Luce,'" Cana wryly commented as she turned a smug smirk towards Lucy, "how are you feeling this fine morning?"

"I feel absolutely peachy," Lucy ground out and stuffed a fork full of omelet in her mouth. Natsu quickly glanced between the two women in confusion, but then shrugged it off as he sat down and started digging into his own food.

"Hey Lu-chan," Levy tried again to change the subject. "When we're finished with breakfast, do you want to go up to my room and start working on your magic skills?"

"That sounds like a great idea," Lucy smiled as she took a large gulp of water. "I'll go take a shower and then meet you at the door to your apartment."

"Ok!" Levy chirped as she finished the last bits of her pancakes and gathered her dishes. "I'm going to go ahead and start pulling book on the subject. See ya!"

The group watched as the bluenette bounced up the steps with the glee of a small child.

"That girl really loves her books," Lucy chuckled as Levy rounded the corner on the staircase.

"I hope that she's willing to compete with Natsu for your attention; it looks like the competition is going to be fierce," Cana blatantly stated as she took another deep swig from her tankard. As Lucy tried to defend herself once more, Natsu decided he'd been quiet for too long.

"So Luce, do you wanna be my partner?"

One more chappie officially in the books! Wooo! Are you a ninja like Lucy? I can tell you for sure that I'm not that skilled… I don't even know where that idea came from, but I stuck with it because I feel like Lucy would do something like that. Yeah? No? How about some appreciation for human anatomy? We all know Lucy has a deep respect for it! ;D

Honorable mention to Animallover, fanficlove2014, cat. (sorry, the site doesn't like your name…), Yuyui Hime, and .3 for your awesome reviews! Thank you so much for your support and I appreciate all the comments, critiques, and praises that you've given me! You

I'm going to try my best to update, but I don't know when it will end up happening. Thank you so much for reading my story and until the next installment, byebye! :D