**Fairy Tail's not mine, it's Mashima's

This chapter's a little shorter because I was taking way too long to get it up.

Hold on, let me try that again.

Getting it up isn't a problem, in the bedroom at least. But sometimes on fanfiction...

Ummm...

Anyway, I felt like it was too long since I posted a chapter, so this one's a little shorter.

But don't worry! Next week Natsu's getting it on with Acnologia!

Er... That is to say, they're gonna fight. Things are gonna' get rough for Natsu!

Er... That is to say... He might have a little trouble winning this one.

Umm... Yeah, I think that's my cue to exit... Enjoy! (And Review)**

Wendy tensed as the door opened. It didn't slam open, but it did open rather quickly as the dainty figure of Hisui strode into the room.

"I need some time alone with my husband," she said in a voice that was not to be trifled with.

"He just woke up nee-chan," Wendy said. "Can't I sit with him a little longer?"

Hisui's glare answered the question without her having to speak a word. Wendy silently rose, whispering, "Good luck Nastu-nii," before heading out and closing the door behind her.

To Wendy's surprise, she didn't hear anything happening inside the room. She breathed a sigh of relief, sinking to the floor next to the door. Apparently Hisui wasn't as angry with Natsu as Wendy believed.

"Your highness looks like a weight has just lifted," the guard outside the door commented.

"Oh," Wendy said with a smile. "I'm just glad they're not fighting…. I expected it to be really loud here for the next several minutes."

"What makes you think they're not fighting?" The guard asked. "With all due respect, your highness," he quickly added.

Wendy frowned at him. "Well, if they were we would obviously hear them…"

The guard smiled at her. "Well, it's a nice sentiment your highness. But this room is soundproof. They could be doing anything in there and we wouldn't hear a thing."

"EH?!" Wendy rose to her feet quickly, worried as she looked toward the door.

"Well of course," the guard said. "You know we have to stand guard outside here every hour of the day and night. It would be a little awkward for everyone if the Prince and the Princess never had any privacy." A light blush tinted his cheeks at the last part. "Not that I would mind listening, of course." The last words were barely a whisper that Wendy knew she wasn't supposed to hear.

"Pervert," she muttered, turning back to the door as she worried again for Natsu. And for Hisui. Even in the short time she was there, she'd come to love the princess as family as well, though her love for her older brother figure was much stronger. She didn't want to see either of them sad, and a small part of her was angry with Natsu for being so stubborn. But a larger part of her knew that the dragon slayer would never back down from his word once it was given.

~~~~~~Inside the Room~~~~~~

"Natsu, I think you owe me an explanation." Hisui stood next to the bed, her hands planted firmly on her hips as she looked down at her husband.

"I'm sorry, Hisui. I can't tell you anything except that what I said back then had nothing to do with having a child…. I'm really happy to be having a child with you."

"Then why don't you explain what the fuck that was back then?" Hisui glared at him. Between her pregnancy and the recent events surrounding her, she felt extremely irritable right now. And the man in the bed in front of her, despite being the one she gave her heart to, was at the center of her fury.

"I can't talk about it," Natsu said stubbornly. "I gave my word to somebody, and I intend to keep it."

"Yeah? Well what if you have to choose? Would you rather keep your word or me?!" Hisui felt her voice rising, her cheeks glowing red with the anger and frustration she felt. She didn't intend to follow through on that threat. She hoped she would never be faced with even having to consider it. But she needed answers, and right now her husband was treating her more like a child than like his wife.

After several long minutes of silence, a single tear leaked from the dragon slayer's eye. "Don't make me do that, Hisui…" He said quietly, his voice breaking a bit.

"And why not?" She snapped, leaning down to get further in the dragon slayer's face. "Give me one good reason why I should stick with a man who thinks it's more important to keep secrets from me than to have a good relationship with me! Who himself has admitted that he's not even sure he loves me the way I love him! How the fuck can you expect me to be happy with this, Natsu Dragneel?!"

His tone began to change from broken to defensive. "I never asked for this… Any of it. I wasn't given a choice in our marriage. Just like I don't have a choice in this. I gave my word to someone and I'm not going to break it."

Hisui desperately held back the tears that wanted to start pouring as she heard those words. "You're right, you didn't ask for this. But after being forced into it you were all too happy to take it. I didn't hear you objecting to using my body for pleasure, or is that all I am to you? Am I just the biggest fucking royal catch in your life? You think I'm just some damn street tramp that needs to keep to her own business?"

Not giving him a chance to say anything further she continued her tirade. "You know I didn't really have a choice in this either, Natsu. My father made this decision. Sure, it helped that you seemed to be a good future husband at the time, but it's not like I chose you. But I loved you anyway. I tried my hardest to be the best wife that I could. All I ever wanted was for you to love me back. For you to want to live as my husband and the father of my child. I just wanted you to see me as something more than the princess you were forced to marry. Is that too much to ask, Natsu Dragneel?" She brushed tears from her eyes as she nearly screamed the last part, losing control of her emotions. Damn pregnancy hormones. Why do I have to be so weak right now?

"Hisui… I… I do love you, I realize that now." Natsu's voice was still soft, sad. "I probably have for a while now. I've just been too stubborn to admit it…"

"Well maybe it's time for you to stop being so damn stubborn and tell me what it is that makes you so scared about our child," she yelled, rounding on him again. If he thought just saying the words she'd been waiting to hear all these months was going to get him out of this, he was sorely mistaken. "If you love me so much, how about you show me by actually trusting me! Treat me like a woman and an equal instead of a little child who's afraid of her own shadow. Let me face whatever's coming together with you! Let me into your life – all of it!" She was pleading now, and she knew it. Tears were streaming down her face too fast for her to brush away with her furiously working hands.

"…" Natsu looked away, his face set in a guilty frown as he continued to remain silent.

"Damn it Natsu!" Hisui growled, her anger starting to return full force. "Answer me! We may be married, but that doesn't mean I have to take this from you. Hell, I don't have to live in the same room as you if I don't want to. I'll just have the guards prepare me a separate room, and then you won't have to look at me again…"

"Hisui…" His voice sounded broken, pleading. But she didn't care. He deserved whatever he was feeling right now, and until he was ready to treat her the way a princess of the realm – no, more than that, his wife, partner, and friend – deserved to be treated, she didn't want to see him. She prepared to leave when suddenly the door opened and Toma came in.

"Father," she said in as steady a voice as she could. "I was just leaving."

"No," his voice was firm. "You need to stay." He slowly made his way over to one of the chairs that sat near the bed and settled in it. Hisui debated making a run for it, but she knew she'd have to face both her husband and her father again eventually. So instead she pulled up a chair and sat down in it with a huff, glaring at the two men through her tear-stained eyes.

After a few more moments Toma spoke, his voice sounding old and tired. "I'm the one that's ultimately responsible for this mess, so I feel it's my responsibility to resolve it," he said quietly. "Natsu, Hisui, I apologize to both of you. Natsu, I never should have demanded your secrecy on something as important as this. And Hisui…. I never should have kept something this important from you, especially after you were married."

Hisui waited, not saying a word as she wanted to hear what her father had to say for himself and her husband. Natsu also remained silent, his eyes closed and his breathing even as though he might fall asleep at any moment.

"Hisui," Toma said, turning to look her in the eyes. "We're here now because when I was young I was very foolish… And selfish." He looked at the ground. "I can give you the details another time, but what you must understand is this. As your husband and protector, Natsu will now have to fight Acnologia shortly after your child is born. And if he loses, not only will he die, but Acnologia will kill your child and take you as his 'student.'"

Hisui's face paled at the name of the dragon king. Acnologia. The great dragon that destroyed the whole island of Tenroujima with a single breath attack. Who nobody in the guild could even scratch with their attacks. The dragon that, according to legend, had bathed in the blood of a thousand dragons. Her anger didn't disappear, but now it began to turn.

"And you thought this wasn't important to tell me?" She asked, her voice still unsteady. "This is my future we're talking about! How could you withhold that from me?"

"I'm sorry my dear," Toma said, a defeated look on his face. "This was one of the reasons I chose Natsu to be your husband… I could see that you liked him too. But I hoped he would have several years to prepare for the dragon king's arrival…"

"Well maybe if I'd known it would've affected my decision to stop birth control!" Hisui yelled, her face red again as she considered everything that happened.

"I know my dear, but you always said that you were going to wait a few years before having children," Toma said, his head in his hands. "How was I to know you would change your mind so suddenly?"

It wasn't so much that as that I thought a child would make Natsu love me more. But I can't say that… Wait, if he made Natsu my husband because of this whole dragon threat… "So not only do you think I'm a child, but marrying me to Natsu was just a business deal? A strategic move to protect your legacy?"

"Of course not!" Toma said, his head snapping up. "I could tell that you liked Natsu Dragneel, and he is the strongest of the dragon slayers. He proved that in his previous battles against each of them. So it's only natural that I would choose him."

"That still sounds like a strategic move to me!" Hisui yelled, her hands clenched into fists as her voice continued to tremble. "You needed a dragon slayer to solve your problem, and since I just happened to have a little bit of a crush on one you pulled him in and married him to me. Without even letting us figure out if we loved each other first! If we'd waited a little longer, maybe this wouldn't have happened either!"

"Hisui…" Toma's voice was pained.

"I… I need time to think…" Hisui said, getting up. In some ways she was relieved that it was her father who secured Natsu's promise to remain silent. On the other hand, she wished his loyalty was to her above her father. And right now she was feeling like no more than a pawn to be moved as Toma pleased. But as she moved away from the bed, a rough, bandaged hand grasped hers, causing her to turn and look back.

Natsu's eyes pierced her from the bed, bearing an expression of mixed love, sorrow, and regret. "Hisui… I love you… I'm sorry it took me so long."

She didn't answer. She couldn't answer at the moment. She just nodded, withdrawing her hand, and swept out of the room, heading to her private garden where she could be alone. Natsu… I waited so long to hear you say those words… But right now… Now that I know I could lose you… It would be so much easier if I never heard them…

But deep in her heart she knew that wasn't true. If Natsu never told her he loved her, she wasn't sure life would've been bearable, especially if he died protecting her and their soon to be newborn baby. But now he was losing precious training time. Time that could've been spent getting ready for Acnologia, now lost forever because of his incompetent team bringing an assassin right to him.

Fuck these pregnancy hormones! Worse than any of the rest, she was feeling very sexually frustrated. And even when she went back in and reconciled with her husband, there was no way he could satisfy her in his current condition. She sighed as she settled onto a bench in the garden, allowing the warm rays of the sun and the gentle fragrance of the roses to lull her mind into a more peaceful state. And, without realizing it, Hisui fell asleep.

~~~~~~A month later~~~~~~

Things were back to later around the palace now. Well, almost back to normal. Since telling his feelings to the princess, Natsu showed his affection more openly as well. But the prince also spent every moment of his time that wasn't delegated to meetings and other duties in training. Except for 2 hours every day. One hour was spent with his surrogate little sister, Wendy, and the other was spent with his wife. Because of his busy schedule, time went all too quickly for the dragon slayer, and before he knew it the day had come. The princess, under the care of the royal physicians, gave birth to a healthy baby boy who, at Natsu's insistence, they named Igneel.

But the day after the birth he appeared. Not as a dragon, as Natsu was expecting, but as a dark-skinned man with light colored hair and a dead look in his eyes. If it hadn't been for his scent, Natsu might not have recognized him. But this was a scent he wouldn't forget in a million years.

Trying to still his beating heart he looked up to meet those dead orbs that stared back at him and uttered the name of the creature that for years haunted his nightmares…

"Acnologia."

Muahahahaha! Only a couple more chapters left in this one. I may stick to updating this till it's done because I'm anxious to get started on some of the other stories I'll be writing.

Ok, I'll admit that chapter was tough to write. But I had to get it out there because I felt like the story wouldn't be complete without it.

Which is to say, I had trouble getting it up at first, but now we're close to the climax.

Um...

I mean, er, that this story's almost at the crucial point. You know. That climax, the one that follows the rising action in a plot. Rising action. Hehe

Eh... I'll shut up now.

Anyway, drop a review if you liked. Or didn't like. Follow, favorite, smile!