Chapter 3
The next morning Natsu startled awake from a loud banging noise on his door. 'Who in Fiore would be at my door this early in the morning?' he thought to himself as he looked at a clock to see that it was 6:30 a.m. "Alright alright, I'm coming just give me a sec." he shouted, hopping quickly into a pair of pants and heading towards the ruckus.
He opened the door only to discover that none other than Laxus was standing there, a slightly perturbed look on his face. "About damn time. I've been knocking for almost 10 minutes now. Was beginning to think you became deaf as well as dumb." He muttered and barged into the house.
"Why do you always have to be such a jerk? Oh and why are you here? And why so early?" Natsu shot back without thinking. Laxus sighed heavily before grabbing the fire mage by his shirt front and hoisting him into the air. "Look here idiot, I was nice to you yesterday and I made you a promise. I told you I would train with you to help you become stronger, or did your pea brain already forget?" He asked looking very annoyed and short tempered, his face tensed into a fanged snarl.
"Yeah now that I think about it I remember. Sorry just got up so I wasn't thinking clearly. Now... can you put me down?" Natsu said back, looking towards the floor petulantly and huffing. The lightning mage put him down and patted his head like a father before saying "Ok well you better go get some clothes on. And don't forget the first aid kit because I am going to test you today to see just how far I have to train you up before you can even hope to defeat Gray, let alone anyone else in Fairy Tail."
Pissed of at his jab, Natsu aimed a punch for his face but he grabbed his fist easily and let out a booming laugh. "There'll be plenty of time for that after you get dressed runt. Now hurry up…or else." he said as he walked into the kitchen to wait for the salamander. Natsu went to his closet and got dressed, muttering heatedly about stupid lightning jerks and their sadistic tendencies, and quickly rejoined Laxus in the kitchen. The pair ate a bit of leftover food before heading out to a large, empty clearing to begin the assessment.
"Come at me moron. And bring everything you've got." Laxus said with a smirk as he stood and prepared for what he knew would come. Natsu was always so predictable, his head on attacks were easily stopped and Laxus pinned him after 3 attempted punches and a kick that he managed to deflect before bringing him to the ground effortlessly. This continued for the better part of an hour when Laxus called a stop to the session.
He sighed in exasperation, realizing he had more work cut out for him than he originally intended and only so long to do so because he had taken a break from missions to tutor the younger mage. "Natsu, first I think we should work on your approach. You can't charge into a battle blindly like a bull, you have to be more clever than that. Brute force won't win you a battle if it's not paired with smart strategies. That's the kind of thing that'll get you killed eventually and Erza would rip me apart if I let that happen." Laxus said to him as he sat beneath a tree on the outer edge of the clearing they were in, motioning to a spot beside him on the ground for the pinkette to sit. Natsu did so and nodded obediently, surprisingly seeming to absorb all that the blonde had said and expectantly awaited what Laxus would say next.
Seeing the salamander's entire attention on him made Laxus realize that Natsu could focus fairly well for the most part, except for his jittery movements every now and then. "Another thing you should work on is being calm. You are way too hyperactive and need to relax and open your senses to what's happening around you. If you don't do that you'll never be able to correctly anticipate your opponent's next move. Now, close your eyes and just listen to what's happening around you in this clearing. Tell me what you hear, see, smell, and feel." The blonde said closing his eyes as he had instructed the other to do.
They sat like that in silence, listening to the world surrounding them and paying attention to every detail. Laxus could still feel Natsu's impatience but it wasn't as profound, almost as if it was dulling like an overused knife the longer he sat still. Eventually he told the salamander that was enough and instructed him to open his eyes. "Now, tell me what you observed." He said quietly.
Natsu described to him what he noticed and again was surprised because he had picked up on everything the older mage had noticed as well. "Well you did well. I think I have had enough of your stupidity for today. We'll continue again tomorrow and then you'll have to wait again to train with me because the Thunder Tribe is going on an extremely high class mission and I can't pass this opportunity up for an idiot like you. Later Pinky." Laxus said rising to his feet and promptly striding in the direction of his place.
Natsu was left in the clearing, pondering how the lightning mage could be both an ass and yet still be kind when he wanted to be. He only wished he could see the kinder side of Laxus more often because he didn't appreciate all the low blows to his intelligence. Natsu knew he wasn't as stupid as everyone said he was, but that didn't stop it from stinging a little every time someone said it. 'Oh well, I'll just have to show him how smart I am tomorrow then.…'
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