**I don't own Fairy Tail or the characters. It all belongs to Hiro Mashima.
Alright, this seems to be a fairly popular pairing, so I'm starting to devote some more effort to it. Here's chapter 2. Hope you enjoy. R&R as always**
"LAAAND!" Natsu proclaimed dramatically as he kissed the ground over and over again on his hands and knees. The guards who were escorting him both sweat-dropped.
"Your highness will please refrain from such unseemly behavior," one of the guards said.
Natsu climbed back up to his feet, not because the guard had scolded him but because that's what he was about to do anyway.
"Aye sir!" Happy said cheerfully behind him.
"I'm never getting on one of those damn things again," Natsu said as his stomach rumbled noisily. "In fact, my first act as king will be to order every kind of transportation in the kingdom destroyed!"
Both guards sweat-dropped as they heard that.
"But don't you think that would make a lot of people mad?" Happy asked.
Natsu glared at the train. "Transportation makes me mad."
"Aye sir!"
The guards sighed, hoping the future king would forget his grudge against transportation before he gained the power to set the kingdom back to the stone ages. What are the stone ages anyway?
"This way, your highness." They said, as they headed off toward the palace.
"Alright!" Natsu grinned. "And stop calling me your highness!" He yelled.
The guards sweat-dropped yet again.
~~~Inside the palace~~~
"I understand your idea for me to marry Natsu," Hisui said to her father. "But why did we have to make the wedding in 2 weeks? I'm not sure everything's going to be ready in time."
The king sighed. "Because Defense Minister Darton gets back from his visit to Alvarez in a little less than 3 weeks."
Hisui glared at her father. "You're the king! Who cares what that old fart has to say?"
"It's just easier to do it without having to deal with his whining."
"Not easier for me! My wedding dress won't be finished till next Tuesday. That only gives us 3 days for alterations! 3 days!"
"Relax dear, it'll be fine."
"Easy for you to say. And what about the decorations? The catering? I still have to pick all that out."
"Don't worry, dear. Everything will be just perfect."
"It better be."
The faint flush on the princess's cheeks was the only indication that she was still angry from the conversation. The rest of her was the very picture of gracefulness. With her swift, easy steps she practically floated along the long stone corridor that led back toward her living area.
It wasn't that she was upset about her father's choice of husband for her. In fact, she actually liked the guy. Sure, his propensity to destroy things was legendary, but there were rumors that he exercised more control over his magic since the war ended. And hopefully, if he learned to control magic, he could learn to control some other things too.
Hopefully.
But even then, he had lots of good qualities. She couldn't help remembering his determination in the events after the GMG. How he'd led the way in defending her actions even after facing death in the battle against 7 dragons. His infectious cheerfulness that gave people the will to keep going even when it felt like hope was lost. The way he always looked toward the future, and how quick he was to forgive those for things they did in the past.
Indeed, if not for her station as princess, Hisui would've been courting Natsu long ago. But would he ever be ready for the responsibilities of running the country?
"Your highness!" A cry from the courtyard below interrupted her thoughts. How could they see me from all the way down there? These windows are tiny.
"I said stop calling me that! Natsu is fine!"
The princess stifled a giggle as she looked out the window. The dragon slayer was headed through the courtyard, toward the servant's entrance to the kitchen.
"But you can't go in that way, your highness!" The guards said.
"I smell food, and I'm starving!" Natsu said. "And call me Natsu!"
"We can't do that your highness. And you'll eat soon enough. You're the future king of Fiore, which means you need to get used to acting like a prince! The main gate to the palace is this way."
"Is that right?"
"Aye sir!" Happy called out.
They're so boisterous I can hear every word from up here. Hisui felt a slight blush come to her cheeks as she studied the dragon slayer from her window. He was tall, handsome despite – or maybe partly because of? - the scar on his face, and he was in excellent physical shape. Plus his pink hair was adorable. Who didn't like pink hair?
And Hisui resumed her casual stroll to her room, completely forgetting that she was supposed to be angry about something.
~~~Natsu~~~
"Wow this steak is good," Natsu exclaimed between bites as food sprayed everywhere.
"YOUR HIGHNESS!"
Natsu stopped, looking up. "Whmf?" He said, his mouth stuffed full of food.
"The first thing you'll need to do is eat in a way befitting of a member of the royal family."
"Huh?" He said as he gulped down food.
His instructor, a tall, skinny woman with slightly angular features, leaned down so her face was only inches from him. "It means, your highness, you have a fork. You have a knife. Use them. Or you can use chopsticks if you prefer."
Natsu gulped, trying to remember how to use the silverware. "I'm pretty sure this is easier to use than the chopsticks…"
With a little hesitation he grabbed the fork in his fist. He then skewered a large piece of meat and tore a smaller piece off with his teeth.
"Not like that." The sharp hiss caused the dragon slayer to flinch. "Take the fork between your thumb and forefingers. Then pick up your knife and cut your steak into bite-sized pieces."
Natsu gulped and picked the fork up as she'd instructed. With a little effort he was able to master the silverware in front of him, cutting the meat into small, bite-sized pieces as he was instructed. Then he slowly used the fork to skewer the meat and bring it to his mouth, one painful piece at a time.
When he was finally finished, he pushed the plate away. "Well, that was great. Now do you have a place I can go train?"
"Your highness," The woman, who identified herself as Irene, said icily. "Your vegetables."
"Vegetables?" Natsu glared at the green things on his plate. "You're really evil…"
"Aye sir!" Happy said cheerfully. Since he was a cat –
Happy "That's exceed!"
Since he was an exceed, which looks remarkably like a cat, he didn't have to worry about table manners.
When the meal was finally over Natsu sighed and got up. "Now can I train somewhere. And where's Hisui?"
"The princess has business to attend to," a guard replied, stepping in from outside of the room. "If your highness is finished with your meal, I will escort you to the tailor."
"The tailor? I wanna' go train!"
"Your highness must be fitted for clothes immediately. Your highness has a wedding is in two weeks."
"Oh fine," Natsu grumbled. "And I keep telling you to call me Natsu."
~~~At the guild~~~
"I still can't believe Natsu's marrying the princess," Gray muttered. He, Juvia, Lucy, and Erza were all sitting at a table.
"No kidding," Lucy said.
"This is the first battle I have lost. I had sworn to make his heart mine," Erza said.
The other three stopped and gaped at her. "Wait," Lucy said. "You mean you liked Natsu?"
"Of course I liked him." Erza said. "Surely you noticed. I did so many nice things for him. Knocking him out on the train so he wouldn't have to deal with motion sickness…. Rescuing his sorry ass when he was in over his head… Stopping him from making an idiot of himself with his non-stop fights with Gray…"
The others all sweat-dropped. "I'm glad Erza doesn't like me," Gray whispered to Juvia.
Juvia mentally crossed Erza off her love rival list.
"But I thought Natsu was going to be mine," Lucy said, tears appearing in her eyes. "He barely knows the princess. How could he choose her over me?"
"I don't think it was a matter of choice," Erza said quietly.
The other three stared at her. "What?!"
Erza blushed. "Oh, just something I overheard Natsu say as he was leaving. But you can't repeat any of that."
"She cheated…" Lucy muttered.
"Juvia wishes she were a princess," Juvia said dreamily. "Then Juvia could make Gray-sama marry her."
"Where's the fun in that?" Lucy said, starry eyed. "It's better to make a guy fall for you than to make him marry you."
"So Lucy doesn't care that the princess made Natsu-san marry her?"
Lucy flushed. "Ok… I guess it does have its perks."
"Juvia, keep your hands above my belt," Gray complained.
"But Gray-sama's not wearing a belt, because Gray-sama's not wearing pants. Or a shirt."
"What?" Gray looked around for his clothes.
Juvia produced them. "Juvia picked them up for Gray-sama!"
Gray quickly got dressed. "Umm… thanks," he muttered.
"Juvia will accept whatever punishment Gray-sama wants to give," Juvia said, bending over and wiggling her hips. "Perhaps Gray sama would like to use Juvia as a chair."
"I'm not into that!" Gray yelled as the guild stared.
~~~At the palace~~~
"Man, I've been standing here forever," Natsu groaned as the tailor did one last set of measurements.
"It's only been 15 minutes, your highness." The tailor replied calmly. "And your highness's measurements are almost done."
Natsu sighed, looking around the room with a bored expression. "I haven't gotten to train all day."
"If your highness requires physical exercise, I believe your highness will get some after I'm finished here."
"Alright! I'm fired up!"
"Will your highness please hold still?"
"Gah." Natsu said in annoyance.
~~~5 minutes later~~~
"Finally! Fresh air!" Natsu yelled as they ran out into a large, flat arena. The arena was solid stone enhanced with magic so that it wouldn't break, with a circle about 150 feet in diameter drawn for combat.
"This is awesome!" Natsu grinned.
"Excuse me your highness," Natsu looked up to see a man with a short beard clad in knee-length shorts and a t-shirt. "I will be instructing your highness in physical fitness."
"Alright. That I don't need," Natsu said. "You're free to go…. Do whatever it is you do when you're not instructing."
"But your highness, I am personally responsible for your highness's level of fitness."
"Alright, look." Natsu said boredly. "Let's have a push-up contest. If you can do more push-ups than I can, you get to be my instructor. If I do more than you, you leave me alone."
"I guess that's fair enough, your highness," the man responded. "And my name is Jacques by the way." He got in a push-up position.
"Just to make this interesting, I'm doing my push-ups like this." Natsu jumped up and landed upside down, balancing all his weight on one arm.
Jacques sweat-dropped. "Surely your highness is jesting."
"Nope!" Natsu grinned. "Let's get started."
The dragon slayer's would-be fitness instructor was in great physical shape. Natsu had to give him that. But nothing could beat a dragon slayer's balance, strength, or endurance. After 700 push-ups Jacques finally collapsed, while Natsu, still pushing up and balancing on only one arm, continued all the way till 800 before the other man admitted defeat.
And from a window high above the training arena, a certain green-haired princess stopped to admire the man's glistening six-pack and bulging biceps.