It was time for the party as Lucy made her way down the steps to where Natsu was waiting. He turned at the sound off her white satin shoes clicking down as she walked down. His eyes widened at the sight that was in front of him. She wore a white silk dress that flowed like liquid down her body and the bodice showed her assets well without revealing to much as one side was strapless while the other had a thin strap that wrapped around her cream like shoulder and had a flower sewn onto it. Her hair was let loose in long blond waves that cascaded down her back with her bangs pulled to the side and a blue lilac placed behind her ear to match the one on her strap.

"Good evening," she said sheepishly.

"Yes," was all Natsu could reply to the vision of beauty that stood in front of him.

"W-what's with the look," Lucy asked nervously. "Do I look weird?"

Lucy felt so out of place in this huge mansion and wearing such luxurious clothes. She felt really self conscious under his gaze.

"No," he replied.

Lucy felt relieved and happy that all the hard work had actually paid off. She then remembered the weird guy that 'helped' in taking her measurements and she swore to herself that the next time she sees him that she was going to kick his ass.

"But, I just feel that things are going to go downhill from here." Natsu said effectively bring Lucy out of her own thoughts as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

They walked into the room where the party was taking place and Lucy couldn't help but gape at how beautiful it was. People were standing all around wearing gorgeous clothes, they stood on a red carpet that went from wall to wall. Tables were set up with white tablecloths and white curtains all around. The room was set with gold accents and the room just sparkled with it's beauty.

"What an incredible party," Lucy said mostly to herself.

"I need you to wait here while I greet some of the guests," Natsu informed her. "Please refrain from talking to anyone."

She wanted to reply but she bit her lip to hold in her comment. She felt bad with the way he was speaking to her, as if he really didn't want her to be there. She watched his back as he walked away wondering what was going through his mind for him to give her the cold shoulder and act as if they aren't friends.

Outside Gray was currently climbing over the gate to the mansion and as he jumped down, Erza had jumped right behind him and used him to soften the landing. Mirajane and Levy came next then came Gajeel with a swift jump and landed next to everyone.

"We need to hurry to help Lucy," Erza said.

Lucy walked outside and onto the bridge that is on the property. She had never seen a house before that actually had their own bridge with a river running below. She felt so out of place as she looked up at the night sky. She enjoyed watching the blanket of golden stars that shimmer in the night. She rest her chin in the palm of her hand against the wall of the bridge and let out a sigh.

"It sure is peaceful out here. It doesn't look like it's going to be fun though judging by the atmosphere," She spoke to herself. "And I am by myself surrounded by people I don't know because Natsu is busy with greeting guests."

"That's right, but Natsu is probably fed up with the huge crowd that has come," A voice spoke from behind Lucy.

She turned to see the same guy that helped with the measurements standing there.

"You're...why are you here?" she asked confused to why this man was once again near her.

"Why, you ask? I'm the guest of honor for this night," he replied.

"S-so...you're...Laxus Dreyar?" she asked pointing at the blond man standing in front of her. He had a lightning bolt shaped scar that ran down his eye and a smirk placed across his face. Despite the fact that he was kind of stand-offish, he was still rather handsome.

"So your Natsu's girlfriend aye?" he said more like a statement then a question.

"Since your his partner that must mean your his girlfriend."

she felt her heart speed up and it felt like her soul had left her body and was now spiraling through space.

"How could that be possible? I'm doing this for money,"

"That means that your Natsu's unrequited love, poor thing." he said glancing up at the stars.

"How did you come to that conclusion?"

"So what do you think of Natsu?" he asked her and she could tell that he was now trying to tease her.

"Listen to what I am saying!" She countered.

"But I feel sorry for you as well, being loved by a novice like him."

He had a smirk on his face and she felt her blood boil at the way he was talking about her friend. She ran up to him, pulled her dress up to her knee's and kicked him in the face. He landed on his ass on the floor as he looked up at her in surprise.

"Never call my greatest rival a novice! My soul purpose is to beat him! That's why he obviously can't be in love with me." she said her voice lowering at that last part.

"Shall we put that to the test then?" he asked standing up. "If I try something on you here, and Natsu gets angry for real then that would mean that he's in love with you." he whispered the last part for only Lucy to hear.

Little did she know that standing in the doorway just a few feet away was Natsu with his deadly glare set straight on Laxus. Laxus then grabbed Lucy by the arms and pulled her towards him. She felt like time went slow as she closed her eyes and braced herself for what she didn't want. She internally screamed at herself to do something but she was frozen in place.

She felt something warm wrap around her waist and when she opened her eyes she spotted Laxus on the ground once more. She turned her head to see the most horrid look on Natsu's face. It look like hatred mixed with rage and fear. His arm was still around her waist as Laxus looked up at her still smirking.

"See? What did I tell you?"

Lucy was internally scolding herself for even debating what this guy was saying. Lucy's thoughts were all over the place. He...loves...me? No there is no way that's true. But what if he does? Get a grip, it can't be true. At that moment she noticed that Natsu still had his arm wrapped tightly around her waist. She started to panic inwardly and gasped.

"Lucy?" Natsu asked her when he noticed her cherry red face.

Out of no where Lucy punched him right in the face and sent him flying. Her thoughts were still going crazy, her head was spinning.

"Lucy," Natsu said as he reached out to me.

"Don't touch me!" she scolded.

Natsu's eyes widened as she turned and bolted back into the house. Natsu couldn't bring words to describe how he felt as he watched her run away from him.

"She hates you now," Laxus snickered.

"What did you say to her?" Natsu demanded.

Laxus just smirked at him, enjoying the entertainment. Lucy had found and dark room in the mansion and hid herself. She didn't want to be with anyone. She was desperately trying to calm herself down.

"I'm going back, but why did I run in the first place?" she asked herself.

As she stood up from the desk she was hiding behind, she noticed a picture sitting on it.

"This is..." she said while looking of the picture of Natsu and Laxus when they were kids and there was a little girl in the picture that looked vaguely familiar.

"What are you doing entering my room without permission?" the sudden voice startled Lucy as she jumped up and quickly turned to see who was there.

"Laxus. I'm sorry," she said as she nervously fidgeted under his stare. "Before I knew what was happening, I found myself here."

"You claim to be Natsu's rival, is that true?" he asked walking towards me.

"That's right,"

"Do you really think so? I'm sorry but I find it hard to believe that Natsu would be completely serious with a girl like you."

"And what are you implying?" Lucy asked.

"Wouldn't it be better if you just wore pretty dresses and smiled happily?"

"Stop messing with me!" she threw punch at him but he managed to catch it.

"Natsu sure is useless, he's not disciplining his girlfriend." he then looked down at her with a smug look on his face. "Looks like I'll have to discipline you in his place."

Lucy's eyes widened in fear, she realized that something was seriously not right with this guy and he was no longer messing with her.

~Moments later, back at the party~

Natsu walked through the hall as he searched for Lucy. He could feel his heart aching at the scene that took place earlier and the look that she held in her eyes towards him. It hurt to see that look on her. He finally spotted her a short ways away. He approached her as she turned with an angry scowl on her face. Just then they heard clapping as they turned to see Laxus reenter the hall. People were shouting greetings all over the room towards him and wishing him a happy birthday.

"Thank you everyone for coming to celebrate this evening with me. I have one last wish before the night ends. I wish to play a game with all of you. It's a simple game of tag but in reverse. Instead of 'it' catching you, you have to catch 'it'." Laxus announced.

Lucy and Natsu simultaneously both had a cold chill run down their backs, knowing that this was not going to end well. People started to whisper about this game as they seemed to like the idea.

"You have to catch i't' and bring it to the goal however if 'it' manages to evade us and make it to the goal, 'it' wins. There will also be a grand prize for the winner. Now lets see who should be 'it'." he pretending that he was deep in thought as if debating who he wanted to be it. He then rose his hand and pointed at someone. "There, you in the white dress," he shouted and of course it just had to be Lucy.

"I am certain that she will accept," Laxus stated.

"Is this your idea of discipline? Making me look like a fool?" she mostly asked to herself.

"You don't have to do it if you don't want to," Laxus added while narrowing his eyes.

He knew that she couldn't resist a challenge and he was using it against her.

"Lucy," Natsu started before I interrupted him.

"I accept!"

"Great, the goal is the rooftop of the mansion. You can only use the stairs. I'll give you thirty seconds...GO!"

Lucy took off running, determination set on her face. She kept telling herself that she will not lose. Her heels clicked as she ran and she realized that she couldn't run as fast as she normally could with what she was wearing.

"Don't worry, we wont hurt you," said one of the boys who managed to catch up to her.

"It's way too easy to catch a girl," another said.

Aggravation took over as Lucy threw off her shoes and flung them towards the boys making them fall in an attempt to dodge them.

"Natsu, forgive me," she said as she ripped off the bottom of the dress, till it was several inches above her knee's. She then charged towards the boys and kicked the one up front out of her way. The next received an elbow to the jaw, while another got knee'd in the face. She ran away fast as her friends came around the corner and spotted the pile of boys knocked out in the hallway.

"Lucy!" Era shouted trying to get her attention but Lucy was long gone.

"Maybe we didn't need to come," Gray stated as he pointed to the unconscious boys.

"Yeah, it looks that way," Mirajane giggled.

Lucy climbed the steps as fast as she could, panting along the way. It was easier to run now that the dress was shorted and she didn't have those heels on. She was aggravated with what Laxus had said to her. She should just wear pretty dresses and smile happily, yeah right. You have got to be kidding me, she thought to herself. She reached the landing on another floor as she looked both ways unsure of which way to go.

Suddenly a door opened behind her and two warm arms wrapped around her and pulled her into the dark room, covering her mouth in the process. Lucy tried to fight back the other person was stronger.

"Be quiet," the one who captured her said as she recognized the voice and stopped struggling.

"Natsu,"

"What are you doing Lucy?"

"What!" she shouted back feeling offended by the way he said that.

"Quiet or they will hear you!" he hissed as he covered her mouth once more.

They paused for a minute as they heard voices and footsteps pass by. Once it seemed like the were gone Natsu turned to her.

"What did Laxus say to you?" he questioned.

"Nothing!" she tensed at the question and Natsu did not fail to notice.

He pushed her against the wall, trapping her in-between his arms. His face was inches from her as a blush broke across her features, this time Natsu didn't notice. He was too upset about what happened earlier.

"Speak! This is an order from your employer!" he demanded.

Her mind took her back to the incident on the bridge. She replayed in scene by scene, scared of what he would say or do if she told him. Unable to take the pressure she screamed loudly as Natsu covered his ears and Lucy used her hands the grab the side of her head as the blush deepened on her face. Suddenly there were more voices as the two stilled in place.

"Shhhh, I just heard a scream." someone said.

"Yeah, it was nearby," another said.

"I'm going," Lucy said as she turned to leave out the door.

"Lucy," Natsu said as he grabbed her wrist gently. "I have managed a car just outside, just head home and I will take of everything else."

"I'm sorry Natsu, but if I go back now then I would be giving in to what he said," she pulled her hand from his as his eyes widened.

She pulled open the door and ran out, as Natsu slowly walked out after her. "Well I guess that leaves me no choice,"

He loosened the tie that was around his neck while a smile graced his lips. Lucy ran down a hall where four boys were standing looking for her.

"There she is!" one of them shouted but she kept running towards them.

She jumped gracefully over them as they watched in awe. "She flew!" one shouted as she landed just as well as she jumped.

A brunette boy started to run as he shouted towards her. He heard some noises behind him and when her turned to look the three other boys that were with him, were laying on the ground knocked out with Natsu standing in the middle.

"I'll take care of the small fry," Natsu said then a males scream could be heard through out the halls.

Lucy kept running, with all her might as she found another set of stairs and raced up them. She repeated in her head once more that she couldn't afford to lose. She didn't want to lose to this Laxus guy when Natsu is the one she really wants to challenge. If she lost to Laxus then she will never win against Natsu. She reached the top as she kicked down the door that led to the rooftop. Standing there as he clapped was Laxus with a devious smile plastered on his face.

"Congratulations, you are the winner," he said still wearing that smile."What prize would you like?"

Lucy walked over to him and stopped when she was just a few feet away. Her feet felt good against the cold of the cement on the rooftop. It helped to stop the burning from all the running she was doing.

"Jewelry, a car, a villa?" he questioned.

"None of those," Lucy stated wrapping his fist into the soft fabric of her dress. "I won this game so...I want you to recognize me as Natsu's rival!"

Natsu was standing in the doorway once more watching the scene unfold between the two. Natsu was shocked, frozen in place at what she had just said.

"So it's about that," Laxus said shrugging his shoulders. "Very well then, Lucy-chan aye? You might be just the one."

Laxus was now inches from her face as she didn't back down. She held her position to show that he had no effect on her. She then felt to hands grab her arms and pull her backwards and into a firm chest. She looked up to see that it was Natsu who had pulled her away.

"We shall be taking our leave now," he said. "Good night Laxus and happy birthday."

They turned and walked towards the exit.

"How is Mirajane doing?" Laxus asked and that's when Lucy realized that it was Mirajane in the picture with them.

"She is doing well," Natsu answered.

"In that case, that is all." he said as he turned his back towards us and waved.

"Whats up with him?" Lucy asked Natsu as they walked out of the mansion.

"Me, Mirajane and him were all childhood friends."

"Really," she wondered how she never knew about him. "There is still a lot of things that I don't know about you,"

"Oh are you interested in knowing?" Natsu smirked as he became his normal self once again.

This side of Natsu, the teasing side, was the one she knew. She felt happy to see that he was back to normal.

"Of course not!" She shouted as she jumped several feet away with a blush evident upon her face.

"But I am," Natsu said then smiled again, a real smile. "What did Laxus say to you?"

"Nothing,"

"Tell me," Natsu said as he watched her turn her back to him and start to walk away.

"I can't!"

"Tell me!"

"Stop being so persistent Natsu!"

"Just tell me,"

"Like I said, I can't!"

"Tell me,"

"Your really pushing your luck,"

~TBC~