CHAPTER 4

[A/N: GUYS I AM SOOOOO SORRY I TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE, ITS ENTIRELY MY FAULT! I had originally planned to update on the release of the new Fairy Tail, but alas my damn assignments piled up and I didn't have the chance! I'm such a procrastinator! To make up for my late update, I made this chapter SUPER LOONG, I hope you guys like it. Also another reason I was so late was coz when I was suppose to be doing my assignments I ended up watching Fairy Tail over and over again, I mean HOW GREAT IS THE NALU IN THOSE OPENING AND ENDING SEQUENCES!? Anyway please enjoy and review :3]

I wish to send a shout out to PrincessCarly28- you were my 50th follower so thanks a lot XD, also to Ayumi Yoona Heartphilia for being my 40th favourite, thanks to all of you for reading this story it means a lot

Once the bell signaling lunch time rang Natsu finally managed to wake up from his long nap, he looked around the class only to be met with his classmates amused faces.

He raised a brow, normally they would avoid looking at him at all costs, but now they found his face funny, what the hell's up with that?

He turned in his seat to ask Erza if she could help explain the situation to him.

"Erza, why is the class giving me those funny looks, did something happen while I was asleep?" he wondered curiously.

Erza looked up from her book to look at Natsu, she almost started laughing herself when she saw his face; she had forgotten that Gray doodled on him, with permanent marker no less, and tried really hard to hide her amusement at his confused look.

She knew that if she tried to tell him about his face she wouldn't be able to contain her laughter, so instead she pulled out her compact mirror and pointed it at Natsu's face.

At first Natsu was confused, wondering why she wanted him to look at himself, but when he saw his face he was pissed off.

He pulled Erza's mirror out of her hand and got up from his seat, trying to geta better look at his face. When the hell did someone draw on his face?!

"Who the fuck did this to my face!?" he yelled angrily.

Those who hadn't yet left the class were terrified, an angry Natsu is not a friendly sight, and they didn't want to get in the way of whoever he was angry at, so they all ran for their lives leaving just Natsu, Erza and Gray in the class.

"Way to terrify everybody out of class flame-head" said Gray as he got out of his seat to walk towards Natsu.

Natsu glared at Gray, of course it had to be him, unless it was Gildarts, but his drawings would have been cooler (at least to Natsu anyway).

"Gray did you do this to me?!" asked Natsu as he grabbed the front of Grays shirt.

Gray just smirked "Maybe I did maybe I didn't, who knows really?" he said smugly.

This just pissed Natsu off even more "Gah, stop trying to confuse me with your sneaky way of talking and answer my question dammit!" he said as he bumped his head against Grays.

"Well maybe if you didn't have the brain of a friggen Salamander you'd be able to figure it out you stupid idiot!" yelled Gray as he pushed his head further against Natsu's.

"Don't call me stupid, Stupid!" yelled Natsu.

This friendly banter continued and eventually escalated into a brawl between the two boys, and the amount of noise they were making was disturbing a certain someone who was trying to enjoy her lunch; which consisted of a slice of strawberry cake.

Erza was trying to focus on the sweet taste of the strawberry slices while noting that the sponginess of the cake enhanced the flavor, but those idiot boys where distracting her from enjoying her full cake-eating experience…

…And that was a VERY bad thing.

She wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and hoped that they would stop fighting on their own; however her patience was exceedingly thin so she didn't wait very long, nor did she want to waste anymore time not enjoying her cake.

She got up off her chair and walked towards the boys who where now standing upright and holding each other by the collar, panting and covered in bruises from their fight.

"You still want more droopy-eyes?!" asked Natsu tiredly.

"Come and get me slanty-eyes!" said Gray.

They each lifted a fist in the air; preparing for the final blow…

…Until Erza came in-between them and knocked their heads so far back that she may have broken their necks in the process.

You could almost hear the snapping of their necks if you stood close enough.

"That's quite enough now boys" she said after she knocked their heads back.

"Ow…" they said together as they tried to straighten out their necks again.

"We need to stay focused on the matter at hand; that being said… you boys shall remain silent in your seats until I have finished my cake understood!" she yelled pointing at the two boys.

The boys were so terrified that they actually grabbed onto each other and were cowering; such is the terrifying wrath of the great Erza.

"Y-yes ma'am!" said Gray as he gave a mock salute and ran to his seat.

"A-aye!" said Natsu as he did the same.

Erza nodded her head in approval and went back to her seat to continue eating, until she remembered something.

"Oh that's right, Natsu you may want to wash your face, permanent marker isn't easy to wash off" she said as she began eating.

"You used permanent marker you ass?!" he yelled.

He wanted to start another fight but he felt Erza's angry glare and decided to run to the bathroom instead.

Erza smirked to herself; at least the guy had a sense of danger.

Once Natsu had finally managed to get most of the permanent marker off his face (there were still traces of it left on his skin) he went back to the classroom to eat his lunch, the poor guy was practically starving.

"I'm so gonna get you back for this Gray" he said as he sat down in his seat.

"I'd like to see you try Natsu" said Gray with a smirk.

"That's enough fighting for one day don't you think boys?" asked Erza sternly.

They stiffened and nodded their heads in response; luckily she had finished eating her cake so her anger would be less life-threatening now at least.

"Good, now lets get straight to the point…" she started.

"Natsu, who is Lucy and what is your relationship with her?!" she yelled as she pointed towards Natsu who had just started eating his sandwich.

He started chocking and coughing up his lunch after hearing her question; he totally forgot that they knew about Lucy now, man he was so screwed. Erza never really beat around the bush when it came to being nosy.

"Geez Erza, are you trying to kill me here?" he asked as he tried to catch his breath after nearly choking to death.

"Don't dodge the question!" she yelled exasperatedly.

Natsu groaned, he knew there was no way she was gonna let this slide, unless he wanted a few broken bones at least.

"She's just some chick I ran into while I was wondering around town on Friday, no big deal" he said as he waved his hand around nonchalantly.

Erza raised her brow, there was no way this answer was going to satisfy her; she wanted more info, and now.

"Natsu… do you want me to hurt you?" she asked with a low growl.

Natsu paled and gulped; no he really didn't want her to hurt him, but at the same time he didn't want to give them any information they could use against him either, he had to word it carefully.

"Ugh, she's a girl that I happened to bump into when I passed the local shrine, she was nice and gave me food coz I complained that I was hungry… not to mention she was smoking hot too" he said with a smirk.

Ok, so not a total lie but at the same time no entirely true, and that last bit would be enough to satisfy Gray's curiosity as well.

"Wait, so you're telling me all it takes for you to fantasize about a girl is for her to give you food, did I hear that right?" asked Gray curiously.

"I wasn't fantasizing about nuthing!" yelled Natsu with a slight blush.

"Sure… coz I'm sure red lace pops up in your mind when you think about food too right?" he asked sarcastically.

"Why you son-of-a-" Natsu lunged at Gray and the two started fighting again.

Unfortunately for them they failed to notice the dark aura emanating from their scarlet-haired friend, nor did they pick up her devilish glare.

"Natsu was thinking perverse thoughts during class?!" she yelled as she got up out of her seat.

This action was enough to stop the boys' dead in their tracks, their faces paled and they began to sweat nervously.

"And to make matters worse Gray knew about this and didn't tell me!?" she continued.

The boys were so terrified that they grabbed onto each other in fear, they knew that it would be a miracle if they survived her wrath with a fraction of their lives.

Erza started cracking her knuckles and glaring at the two boys hunched below her, her hair looked like tentacles the way it was moving.

"It seems you boys need to learn some manners, and as the student council president it is my duty to be the one to educate you" she said as she started beating poor Natsu and Gray into bloody lumps of flesh.

Erza placed her hands on her hips, satisfied with the punishment she gave the boys.

"Well Natsu I suppose your answer will suffice, so I won't ask anymore about Lucy…"she said, all Natsu could do to respond was groan in pain.

Now Erza wasn't entirely convinced of Natsu's story, but she had a feeling he had his reasons for not telling them everything, she could actually sympathize with him; but she didn't want to dwindle on her own problems.

"…Well I should get going, I need to practice some more for the archery contest on Wednesday, and being student council president gives me slightly more freedom to skip a few classes, especially since my grades are top notch" she said with a proud smirk.

Gray and Natsu just rolled their eyes, Erza wasn't usually one to brag but when she wanted to make them feel small this was her way of doing it, reminding them that they need to work harder like her; at least in her eyes anyway.

"Anyway I expect you boys to behave while I'm gone, and just in case you need any added motivation just remember that all the teachers and the entire class have me on speed dial" she warned.

The boys gulped and nodded their heads; Erza smirked at them and walked out the classroom.

.

.

"Ugh, I feel like a truck ran over me" moaned Gray as he rubbed his head in pain.

"Ha, a truck would have been less painful, more like a wrecking ball" said Natsu still lying on the ground.

The boy chuckled to each other; it was moments like these where you could see that Natsu and Gray actually were good friends, they just had their own… unique way of expressing their feelings.

"I gotta say man, you really caught me off-guard today, I mean you never think about girls at all, why the sudden change, was she THAT hot?" Gray asked confused.

Natsu glanced at Gray then at the ceiling, he was thinking to himself about Gray's question.

He'd hate to admit it but he did have a point, hell even if he wanted to answer Gray's question he didn't know what to say, and he didn't really want to give out any more info about Lucy, she didn't seem like someone who'd appreciate being tossed in the limelight of guy-talk.

So he just groaned and shrugged; all he could do really, and Gray let him be, but he was getting bored just sitting in the class moping around so he came up with an idea.

"Hey, you wanna pull a prank on Gajeel?" he asked with a sly smirk.

Natsu immediately sat upright, also wearing a sly smirk, "Hahaha, you bet, that punk deserves it for bolting my locker shut last week!"

Meanwhile on the other side of town, we see a familiar teen-aged girl who's focus was not exactly on her friends conversation, but lingering on a certain pink-haired boy she met not too long ago…

"…u-chan, Lu-chan!"

"Eh?" said Lucy confused.

"Geez, you've been in a daze the whole morning, did you even hear a single thing I just said?!" complained her friend.

"Ah, gomene Levy-chan, my mind was somewhere else" said Lucy apologetically, she was also not feeling very hungry and was absentmindedly poking her lunch.

Levy was Lucy's best friend since they started middle-school, they shared a mutual love for books and manga and clicked right away, not to mention Levy's blue hair stood out amongst everyone else and Lucy liked that.

Now they went to the same high school; Mermaid Heel, the only all-girl school in town and were in their second last year together.

"Well I asked if you finished reading the book I lent you, remember; Skies of Aquaria?" she asked with a pout, Levy wasn't a person who liked to be ignored, mostly because she was the shortest in her class and some people liked to remind her on a regular basis.

The poor girl was going to develop a Napoleon complex if they didn't cut out the short jokes some time soon.

"Ah! No I completely spaced, I'm sooooo sorry!" said Lucy as she kept bowing her head at Levy.

"That's so not like you Lu-chan, normally you wouldn't have put the book down and finish it within a day, is there something on your mind?" asked Levy.

Lucy knew that Levy was right, it wasn't like her to ignore any good book, but all she could think about the whole weekend was Natsu; his behavior confused her, he was a total enigma, there one second and gone the next and that kiss on her cheek…

Lucy blushed at the mere memory of it, she couldn't believe he actually did that so suddenly.

She kept thinking that any other girl would have slapped him or something for being a perv, but not her, in actuality she felt touched by the gesture and it sent her heart racing every time she thought about it.

Absentmindedly she placed her hand on the spot where he kissed her, trying to remember the exact sensation she felt. Natsu was a very attractive guy, and not just any guy can pull off pink hair.

Aah, pink was her favourite colour, and he was incredibly muscular too, she could have sworn he had an 8-pack, and his eyes; those deep onyx eyes that could see straight through you, not to mention that adorable cheeky grin

Lucy realized that she was totally perving on Natsu and felt her face burn up, not to mention her best friend was watching her. She placed her hands in her palms in shame and groaned.

"Lu-chan?" asked Levy concerning.

"Levy-san, is Lucy-san alright, her face is very red?" asked another blue-haired girl.

"I don't know Juvia, she's been out of it all day, I'm really worried about her" said Levy worryingly.

Juvia leaned in closer to see her blonde friends face, she was very concerned.

Juvia met Levy and Lucy in their first year of highschool, Juvia always sat alone because people complained that she was always gloomy, but these girls didn't care and became friends with her. She cared about them very much and would do anything to protect them.

"Lucy-san, Juvia is very worried about you, are you sick by any chance?" she asked.

She also had a habit of talking in third person.

Lucy lifted her head and began shaking her hands around, "N-no, I'm not sick at all! It's just…" said Lucy as she looked to the ground in thought.

Levy and Juvia exchanged glances and nodded to each other in understanding.

"Lu-chan, you know you can always talk to us right?" asked Levy seriously.

Juvia nodded her head in agreement "Juvia and Levy-san will be there for you if you have problems" she said sternly.

Lucy's eyes widened for a second then a smile broke out on her face, she was glad to have such great friends with her.

"Arigato, actually something happened on Friday that I need to tell you about" she started nervously, a blush already forming on her face.

Levy and Juvia exchanged glances quickly then nodded for Lucy to continue.

Lucy sucked in a breath and started telling her friends about her encounter with Natsu.

"…and then he kissed me on the cheek and said he'd see me again some time then ran off." She finished, her face was red like a tomato and she felt steam coming out from her ears. Remembering was one thing, but re-telling it to her friends was a whole other form of embarrassment.

Levy and Juvia stayed quiet the whole time, they had complete poker faces on the entire time and this concerned Lucy, she had no idea how her friends were going to react and them just sitting their with no expression was making her nervous.

"Lu-chan, you said he had pink hair right?" asked Levy suddenly.

Lucy looked up at her best friend confused; this was the first thing she asked?

"Uhm, yeah?" answered Lucy.

"And that he had a strange scaly looking scarf?" asked Juvia.

Ok, this was too weird for Lucy, why where they asking her such strange questions, in her opinion they didn't seem to be of any relevance to her predicament.

"Yes that's right" she answered somewhat cautiously.

Suddenly Levy jumped out of her chair and grabbed Lucy by the shoulders and started shaking her violently.

"Lu-chan, do you have any Idea who you're talking about!?" yelled Levy.

"Uhm, I'm pretty sure he said his name was Natsu?" she answered hazily, she was feeling very dizzy from being shaken like a rattle and was trying not to fall over.

"Lucy-san, have you never heard of the dreaded Salamander?" asked Juvia worriedly.

Lucy raised a brow in confusion "Uhm, no should I have?" she asked curiously. She wondered why someone would call themselves 'Salamander' in the first place.

"Lu-chan, the guy you're talking about IS the Salamander! He's got a reputation for being a total delinquent; causing fights, barely going to class, playing with girls affections, and his group of friends are a bunch of Yankees!" exclaimed Levy while she was waving her hands around dramatically.

Juvia nodded her head in agreement with Levy while Lucy just sat there confused; they think this delinquent guy they're talking about is Natsu, that's not possible, they must be confusing him with someone else?

"Well I don't know about this Salamander guy, but Natsu didn't seem like that to me at all, you gotta be confused" said Lucy, the Natsu she saw didn't sound like this delinquent at all.

"Lu-chan, how many people have you met with pink hair?" asked Levy, desperately trying to protect her friend from this guy.

Lucy crossed her arms and raised a brow, looking at Levy accusingly "You and Juvia both have blue hair, I fail to see the big deal about a guy who has pink hair" said Lucy sternly, what right did they have to judge the guy for his hair?

"Exactly Lu, a GUY with pink hair; that just screams rule-breaker! And you know that my and Juvia's hair is Natural!" yelled Levy while gripping the loose strands of her hair to prove her point.

Lucy let out a sigh "Hai, hai Levy-chan, whatever you say" she said exasperatedly.

"Lucy-san, Levy isn't making this up, Juvia has also heard of the Salamander, a violent ruffian with pink hair and a scaly-looking scarf, who gets into big fights on a daily basis, you yourself said you found him beaten up, how could it possibly be anyone else?" asked Juvia worriedly.

Lucy opened her mouth to speak but found herself speechless, what Juvia said was starting to make sense, she thought back to when she was talking to Natsu and asking him how he got injured.

'I just got into a fight with a bunch of shitheads that decided to fight dirty…'

Lucy's eyes widened, was this Salamander guy Natsu, there was no way right? He seemed like a really nice guy, she felt comfortable around him, well when he wasn't teasing her at least, and she had called him a friend so she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but with this new news she didn't know what to think.

"Excuse me, but is Miss Heartfilia in here?"

The girls all looked to the door and saw the student council president standing beside the door.

"Ah, Kagura-Kaichou, yes she's here" said Levy.

Kagura nodded her head and entered the classroom, her straight dark-brown hair hung loosely over her shoulders while she wore a white ribbon as an Alice-band, she always had a serious look on her face, due to her strict Nature, so you always had to be on your guard whenever she approaches you.

"Heartfilia-san I have a request if you'll listen?" she asked seriously.

Lucy gulped, she wondered what Kagura would want with her, did she do something wrong?

"Um, sure Kagura, how can I help?" asked Lucy nervously.

"You are quite proficient in archery correct?" asked Kagura.

Lucy gave Kagura a confused look, what did her archery skills have to do with anything?

"Y-yes, I learnt it for my shrine maiden duties, although proficient may be a bit of a stretch ehehe" said Lucy bashfully as she scratched her cheek.

"What are you talking about Lu-chan, your great, you've never missed a bull's-eye in your life!" yelled Levy.

Lucy was never one to brag about herself, but Levy knew that Lucy had excellent archery skills and didn't like it when she put herself down by telling herself that she isn't good.

"That's excellent, our archery team's best member had recently caught a cold and cannot participate in the competition on Wednesday, would you be willing to take her place?" asked Kagura.

Lucy's eyes widened. Her participating in a competition?

"A-ah, th-that is, I um, I'm very flattered you asked me, but my archery teachings are strictly for my shrine maiden duties, It would be different if I tried it for competitive purposes" she said.

Kagura looked Lucy in the eye for a good minute, and then she did the unthinkable…

She got down and the floor and bowed dogeza-style to Lucy, all the girls were incredibly surprised by this; the great Kagura bowing?

"Please Heartfilia-san, we need to win this competition, I will give you anything you want, but please help me, I have to prove to THAT woman just how great our school is, if we lose this competition I don't think I can bear the shame" she said sadly.

Lucy stared at Kagura, she couldn't believe what she was hearing, nor the amount of faith being placed into her, it may go against her teachings, but if Kagura needs her this much how could she possibly say no.

Lucy's eyes filled with determination, as a shrine maiden it is her duty to help fulfill the wishes of those in need.

"You don't have to get me anything Kagura, if you really think I can help by participating in the competition… I guess I'll have to do it, I'll help you with the archery competition!" said Lucy as she pulled Kagura up off the floor, she gave her a heart-warming smile and Kagura's eyes widened in surprise.

But the real surprise was that Kagura had suddenly grabbed Lucy for a hug that could squeeze the life out of you.

"Arigato Heartfilia-san, really it means a lot!" she said while suffocating- I mean hugging her tightly.

"A-ah, i-it's alright, n-no problem…" said Lucy while struggling for air.

Kagura realized that she had suddenly lost her composure and released Lucy from her grip, she felt a little embarrassed that she was seen in such a state.

"Ahem, w-well I guess we'll see you on Wednesday then, we'll be meeting at the front of the school for the buses to take us there, thank you again Heartfilia-san" she said and bowed her head in thanks.

Lucy sweat dropped, Kagura was always too high strung, and way too formal with everybody.

"Sure thing and you don't have to keep calling me Heartfilia-san, just plain Lucy is fine with me" she said with a smile.

Kagura blushed slightly, she wasn't use to talking so freely with anyone but a select few, yet she felt she owed it to Lucy to honor at least this one request.

"O-ok, L-Lucy-san"

Ok well trying to lose the honorific would have been too large a leap for her anyway, so Lucy was satisfied that she at least said her name.

"Much better, oh by the way what school are we competing against anyway?" asked Lucy with her hands behind her back.

Kagura instantly returned back to her stern self and looked into Lucy's eyes with determination "We shall be facing Fairy Tail Academy, so make sure you practice your hardest" she said, and then she walked out the door.

Lucy's eyes widened, Fairy Tail Academy?

"She… she doesn't mean the school with the famous Titania does she!?" yelled Lucy as she ran to Levy and shook her shoulders.

"L-Lu-chan, c-c-calm down…" she said as she was continuously shaken, she supposed this was payback for shaking her earlier.

"Calm down!? She's the most famous archer and sword fighter around, and Kagura wants me to compete against her, is she nuts!?" yelled Lucy.

She fell to her knees on the floor, she knew Kagura had faith in her abilities, but to think she could even measure anywhere close to the legendary Erza Scarlet was just plain crazy. She felt like all her surroundings were spinning.

"D-Don't worry Lucy, J-Juvia knows you will do your best no matter what!" said Juvia in the hopes of cheering her friend up, but even she knew that what Kagura had just asked was a tall order.

"Juviaaaa~ what'll I dooo~~" whined Lucy as she grabbed onto Juvia's legs for comfort.

Juvia just swear dropped, Lucy was always such a drama-queen, but she was used to it so she just patted Lucy on the head sympathetically.

Juvia glanced over at Levy, who she noticed was deep in thought about something with her hand on her chin. Levy then looked directly at Juvia and walked over to her to whisper something in her ear.

"Ne Juvia, doesn't the Salamander also go to Fairy Tail?" asked Levy softly so that Lucy couldn't hear.

Juvia's eyes widened for a moment, in fact the rumors did say he went there, but what if they weren't true, she couldn't take that chance, especially when it came to Lucy's safety.

"Juvia thinks so, if the rumors she heard where true, what should we do Levy?" she whispered.

"Simple, we'll just have to go with her, I won't let that ruffian anywhere near Lu-chan, he's nothing but trouble" whispered Levy, her eyes filled with determination.

"Right, so we probably shouldn't tell her anything then" said Juvia.

"Levy-chaaaan~, Juviaaaaa~, why are you whispering in my time of need~" whined Lucy, here she was stressing while her friends were whispering who-knows-what to each other.

"Ah, don't worry about it Lu-chan, you'll do great, in fact I was just telling Juvia that I think we should come along for moral support, ne Juvia?" said Levy with a smile.

Juvia caught on immediately and nodded in agreement "Of course, Juvia will give Lucy-san her full support" she said.

Lucy smiled at her friends, they always knew how to cheer her up, she got up off the floor and pulled them both in for a hug.

"You guys are the best" she said with a smile.

Levy and Juvia exchanged glances; a silent agreement was made with their eyes.

There was no way they would ever let Salamander anywhere near Lucy if it was the last thing they did.

*Shudder*

"You ok flame-brian?" asked Gray

"Y-Yeah, I just felt a chill all of a sudden" he said as he rubbed his arms, he felt like a tingle ran up his spine for some reason.

"Maybe a ghost is trying to posses you" said Gray with a smirk.

"Yeah, or it could just be coz I hang around you too much" said Natsu with a grin.

"Why you-"

Well, I think you can guess what they're doing. But Natsu couldn't shake the sudden feeling of fear and anticipation he was feeling, wondering why it was there.

[A/N: SIGH, am I jumping around too much? Oh well whats done is done. Please LEAVE SOME LOVELY REVIEWS, I love hearing feedback from you guys, its my motivation! Oh and if you guys are confused about anything don't be afraid to ask me :3]