CHAPTER 10

JELLYBEAN IS HAPPY, SO VERY HAPPY, SHE LOVES THIS STORY A LOT, AND IS NOW TALKING IN THIRD PERSON, JUVIA WOULD LIKE ME VERY MUCH RIGHT NOW XD

[A/N: This chapter is my birthday present to Kin'iro No Yami, who happened to threaten me with torture till the brink of death if I didn't upload soon, so… I hope this keeps me safe for now, also I have a poll on my profile page that is signifigant to this story so I would love it if EVERYONE VOTED, your voted will depend on how this story continues, so I am giving you guys power here. Anyway read and enjoy and don't forget to review! XD]

Also I want to tell you guys how much I appreciate you reading this story, I had no idea it would get this great an audience, thank you so much ^3^

Natsu was visibly shocked, and incredibly embarrassed, he knew his face was pink right now, he could feel it. This girl was just too much for him, I mean first she saves his ass and treats his wounds, then she gives him money for a ride home (even though he nearly died on the way there from his motion sickness), then she hears really bad rumors about him, but instead of believing them like a normal person would she just throws them out the window like some old fish [A/N: Pft forgive me Happy].

He could feel a tightening in his chest, and his heart was beating slightly faster than normal, not only that but he was pretty sure the temperature in the room had somehow gone up, I mean it had to for him to have begun to feel warm.

He was so embarrassed he couldn't even look her in the eye and was staring at his lap, hoping that she couldn't see the pink tinge on his cheeks.

"Uwaah! I just said something really embarrassing now didn't I?! I'm so sorry!" she said while covering her face with her hands, he face was glowing it was so red and you could practically see steam coming out of her head.

Natsu couldn't help but chuckle at her cute behavior, and somehow he managed to feel less embarrassed when he saw her like that.

"You don't have to be embarrassed, I was just surprised that someone actually ignored the rumors they heard about me, it was a bit of a shock" he said with a grin.

Lucy looked up at him and removed her hands from her face and started to twist her fingers in her hands.

"Well I think its better to judge a person based on what they are actually like, not what other people tell you they're like. I mean most of the things people think I'm like just by looking at me are completely wrong as well, so there's no way I'd just believe what people think about you" she said with a smile.

Natsu's face turned into a scowl, what did she mean by 'most of the things people think I'm like just by looking at me are completely wrong'.

"And just what exactly do people think your like when they first meet you?" he asked, his voice sounding slightly angry but Lucy couldn't hear it.

"Hhm? Oh well, they think that because I'm blonde that I'm just some kind of walking Barbie doll without a brain, at least that's what I've heard, but in fact I'm the second smartest person in my school" she said waving her hand around non-chalantly, like she didn't care about it at all.

"What kind of idiot judges a person coz of their hair colour? That's just so annoying" Natsu complained, a scowl still present on his face and he began grumbling something that Lucy couldn't make out.

She couldn't help herself and started giggling at his response to his question, she guessed he could sympathize with her in a way, I mean the guy did have pink hair, there's no way he didn't get hell for that.

"What's so funny?" he asked with a raised brow, genuinely having no idea why she suddenly started giggling, not that he didn't think it was the cutest thing ever, but still curious.

"I'm guessing that your hair colour has caused a lot of problems for you too huh?" she said with a smile.

Natsu let out a groan and slumped in his slumped in his seat "Don't get me started" he whined.

Lucy giggled at his reaction, she thought it was adorable, then blushed when she realized what she was thinking.

Natsu looked up at her when he hear her giggling again and grinned, it was nice to have such an understanding person to talk to, he had never actually told anyone about his issues with his hair, so it was nice for him to talk about it for once.

Lucy saw him looking at her, then she noticed a peculiar red mark on Natsu's forehead, she squinted and then remembered the events that had occurred earlier in the dojo.

She groaned and face palmed herself, she could not believe that Levy had done that! Not only was it totally uncalled for, but it was just plain crazy, hell she looked crazy when she did it, and now she was in some kind of brawl with one of the archery girls. Man she was acting strange today.

Natsu was gazing curiously at Lucy wondering why she had suddenly done a face palm.

"I'm really sorry about what my friend did to you back there" said Lucy shamefully, she had never actually hurt Levy but right now she felt like giving her a good gonk on the head.

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Natsu confused and he tilted his head.

"You know when she kicked your face and kind of… stepped on it, oh god, don't tell me the impact was so hard you forgot about it!?" she asked nervously.

Natsu's eyes widened in realization "That was real!?" he yelled jumping from his seat, he thought he had imagined the whole thing, at least now that explained the bump on his faorehead.

Lucy did an anime fall on the infirmary bed and sweat-dropped at his question.

"Of course it was real! What did you think it was!?" asked Lucy exasperatedly.

"I thought it was some kind of physical form of my conscience or something, you know like Jiminy Cricket! Except you know instead of a cricket it was a little girl with blue hair" he said suddenly realizing that he sounded absolutely ridiculous.

Lucy blinked once… twice…

"Levy's not a little girl, she's turning 17" she said with a giggle.

"That's what you comment on!?" yelled Natsu confused, she had completely overlooked his conscience theory just to correct him, and seriously? That girl was a high schooler? Man is her boyfriend gonna have problems.

*A short blue-haired girl sneezed suddenly*

"Well I don't exactly have the right to judge you when it comes to strange thoughts now do I?" she said.

Well she did have a point there with her overactive imagination and all, but still, any normal person would at least look at him like he was crazy right?

"Unless you want me to ask why you thought my best friend was the physical manifestation of your conscience? Coz to tell you the truth I am curious" she asked with a brow raised.

Ok, no, in fact he'd really not let her know what went on inside his head when he got kicked in the forehead. He thought maybe he was being punished by his inner self or something for kind of letting his eyes linger on her cleavage while she was straddling him, so yeah, he was definitely not going to tell her anything.

He shook his head sideways letting her know that she was better off not knowing, Lucy let out a huff of annoyance, and here she was hoping he'd tell her.

"Anyway, I think I should put some ice on your head before you develop a concussion or something" she said getting up off the bed.

"Whoa whoa whoa, there's no need to fuss over this little thing, I've been hit on the head by a lot worse then your friends foot, and your still hurt so get back on the bed and-"

"Just shut up and sit back down" she said exasperatedly, she was in no mood to deal with his stupid pride right now.

Natsu eyed her for a minute, she had a look in her eyes that told him that she wasn't going to back down any time soon, he should know he's worn that look many time before.

"Your not gonna let this go are you?" he asked already knowing the answer.

"Nope, if there's one thing I'm known for besides my overactive imagination its my stubbornness" she said with a smirk.

Natsu groaned and sat back down on his chair in surrender making Lucy grin.

"Good, now let's take a look at that bump" she said.

Lucy was bending slightly so that she was at eye level with Natsu, she moved his bangs out of the way so that she could get a better look at his head and was checking to see if there were any scratches on it.

"Hhmmm…" she said.

Meanwhile Natsu was sort of having a nervous breakdown right now; not only was her face really close to his, but she was also caressing his head. His face was RED, and he was starting to feel a little lightheaded too.

"Well there are no scratches at least, that's good…"

He could not even focus on what she was saying right now, his eyes kept on readjusting from her lips to her eyes, and man was he having a hard time trying to focus on just sitting still. Damn and she has absolutely no idea that she's doing this to him, oh Kami why did she have to be so pretty!?

"Whoa your skin is very warm do you have a fever?!" she asked, placing her whole palm on Natsu's head.

He snapped out of his trance in order to maintain his sanity and answered her question.

"Ah, n-no no, I have unnaturally high body heat, so don't freak out I'm not sick, in fact I hardly ever get sick at all!" he babbled while flailing his arms everywhere.

"Hmph, lucky" said Lucy with a pout; she then went to retrieve an ice-pack from the freezer.

With her back turned Natsu started scratching his head furiously, and was yelling at himself inside his head.

The second she pouted he thought she looked so adorable that he almost couldn't hold himself back from kissing her!

Just what the hell was wrong with him!? He never felt these things before, they were so unlike him. His life was so much simpler when all he cared about was fighting and food! [A/N: Well they do say ignorance is bliss for a reason]

"Ok I'm gonna need you to hold your head up now" said Lucy

Natsu looked up and saw Lucy holding an ice-pack in one hand with her other hand on her hip, she had a small smile on her face.

"That's better, now hold still for a bit" she said as she held the ice-pack to his head.

Natsu flinched at the contact, he hated cold things; they reminded him of Gray.

"Sorry" squeaked Lucy when she saw him flinch.

"Nah its fine, thanks by the way" said Natsu shyly, desperately avoiding eye-contact.

Lucy giggled, guys could be so prideful about their resistance to pain, and she couldn't help but think that he was acting so cute right now…

…eh, wait… cute!? Where did that come from!?

Lucy suddenly noticed just how close she was to Natsu's face, and she started blushing quite badly, now normally she would have jumped a few feet back but she didn't want him to think she was some kind of weirdo or anything, so she just sucked in a breath and kept holding the ice-pack on his head…

…Not even paying attention to the fact that her knees were shaking slightly, nope not at all.

Two teens blushing at their closeness in the infirmary, neither one daring to make eye-contact for fear of doing something stupid(Natsu) or saying something stupid(Lucy).

One of them was bound to break first…

Natsu had slightly shifted his gaze from the floor and tried to see if he could calmly look Lucy in the eye with out freaking out.

But little did he know that Lucy was doing the exact same thing.

Suddenly they were both staring into each others eyes, not making any kind of sound or movement, just silently staring; of course their faces were on fire but none of them were paying attention to that right now.

Now this may or may not have been a conscious action, but it was still happening nonetheless…

Natsu was slowly leaning in towards Lucy, while she was frozen in place; not even aware of his movement, and he was about to close that little gap between them, both lost in each others deep gazes.

She could feel his breath on her lips but made no movement, it was like she was in a trance, similar to the one he was in.

They were slowly closing their eyes and then…

While all of this was happening something else was going down at the archery dojo...

Everybody was frozen after hearing Makarov's voice, most in fear, others just out of confusion.

Well except for Gray, he was just wondering what the hell his sister was doing here at such an awkward time.

"LAXUS! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!?" yelled Makarov.

It amazed even the Fairy Tail students the volume at which this small-sized old man could yell.

"Ji-chan –oof!- I could use some help here!" said Laxus.

The large crowd of people parted so that Makarov could see Laxus; who was currently getting punched on the face by an enraged Mirajane.

"My my, so it really is you Mira?" said Makarov solemnly, his face turning from enraged to sad at seeing the white-haired maiden.

Mira stopped her attacks on Laxus and turned her now softened gaze on Makarov, her face also turning sad.

"M-Master Makarov… I-I…"

Mira jumped back off of Laxus and started dusting of her skirt; her face was now mortified when she realized that she had suddenly lost total control of her emotions.

"I-I'm so terribly sorry, please forgive me!" she said bowing in apology, her face cringed in sadness and anger while she held her hands together.

Makarov glanced at Laxus then back to Mira, at seeing her in such a condition he sent a deathly glare to Laxus; which he just turned his head to, only making him intensify his glare.

He huffed at his stupid grandson's attitude and started walking up to Mira; who was still bowing, and placed a hand on her head in comfort.

Mira's eyes widened at the sudden contact, but she mad no indication of movement.

"There there my child, there's no need for you to apologize for anything, in fact I don't think you've hit him nearly as hard as you should!" he said with a grin.

"Ehhhh?!" yelled everyone.

Just what in the hell kind of Head Master was this guy!? Even Erza wore a dumbstruck expression at his actions.

Mira lifted her head up to look at Makarov, shock clear in her eyes, when she saw his grin she broke down and began to cry, falling to her knees while gripping him like a teddy bear in her death-grip.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" cried Mira.

The Mermaid Heel girls acted quickly the second they saw Mira burst, quickly forgetting about their opponents they ran to her side and attempted to soothe their crying teacher.

"Ok Mira… cant breath… still an old man you know…" chocked Makarov as he patted Mira's back, hoping that she heard him.

Mira was crying so hard she didn't even notice that the girls from Mermaid Heel had already pried Makarov from her grip and she was being comforted by them in a group hug.

Of course the only girls who didn't move because they were still in shock were Levy and Kagura, along with the girls from Fairy Tail, and of course Juvia was glued to the floor next to Gray with a look of utter confusion just like his.

"Oi shrimp, shouldn't you go over there and help them"

Levy was pulled out of her confused state by none other than that stupid pink gorilla she had come to hat in a short amount of time, not only that but he insulted her height again!

"Just how hard will I have to hit you for it to sink into your little brain to NOT COMMENT ON MY HEIGHT!?" she yelled as she threw a book at his face, which happened to appear out of nowhere.

Gajeel was clutching his nose where the book had suddenly hit him and crouched down in pain.

"Tch, temperamental bitch" he muttered.

"Levy-san there you are!"

Gajeel and Levy turned and saw Juvia running towards her with a concerned look on her face.

"Juvia, where the hell have you been!?" yelled Levy as she placed her hands on her hips with a scowl on her face.

Juvia stopped in her tracks and raised her brow at Levy's attitude, she then crossed her arms across her chest and started glaring at Levy.

"Well Juvia would have gotten here a lot faster if Levy-san would have been kind enough to answer her calls!" yelled Juvia.

"Eh?" asked Levy.

She immediately took her cell out of her shirt pocket and flipped it open… to see that she had about 10 missed calls and 15 messages from Juvia flashing on her screen.

Levy sweat-dropped, now she felt stupid; this feeling seemed to happen a lot to her today, wonder why?

"Eh-ehehehe… my bad?" said Levy sheepishly scratching the back of her head.

Juvia growled slightly but just let it slide, I mean if Levy did answer her calls she wouldn't have had the opportunity to see Gray again, so she was so over this issue.

"Sorry to interrupt ladies, but can either of you tell me what the hell got all of this started in the first place?" asked Gray.

As they turned to look at him they both blushed, and Levy squeaked slightly.

"A-ano G-Gray-sama, y-your clothes again" muttered Juvia as she half-heartedly covered her eyes.

"Huh? Oh for crying out loud!" yelled Gray as he began looking for his shirt AGAIN.

"Oh Gray, you even do this at school, how embarrassing" teased Ultear as she took snapshots of him flailing around for his shirt while snickering behind her hand.

"As usual your sister's as cruel as ever man" said Gajeel with slight sympathy as he walked up behind Levy.

"You don't have to remind me" muttered Gray who finally found his shirt and was putting it back on.

Ultear just chuckled to herself while the girls could finally look at Gray without blushing.

"So anyway back to my question…" he started.

"Honestly I'm not sure, we just got here when all the chaos started, I think that it started with Miss Mira and that blonde guy, and it somehow escalated into an all-out brawl from there" said Levy as she folded her arms across her chest, a concerned look on her face.

"Man, what the hell did Laxus do to make Elfman's big sis just attack him like that?" asked Gray.

"Who knows, I'm not complaining though, about time that bastard got his ass handed to him for a change, and to make it even better a chick did it" said Gajeel with a grin.

"And just what the hell's that supposed to mean pinky?" said Levy with a glare.

That was the last straw for Gajeel, he refused to put up with this chicks crap anymore. After all 'Pinky' was an insult for Natsu, being called that was just too much.

Gajeel got right up to Levy, towering over her and gave her his scariest glare "Listen shrimp, I've been real calm with you this whole time but there's only so much I'm willing to put up with, now quit acting like a spoilt bitch before I do something you'll regret" he growled.

Levy shivered at his tone of voice, but she refused to show him that she was scared, being bullied her whole childhood had taught her to never let them know that your afraid; it just powers them up.

"Oi Gajeel…" warned Gray, he knew how violent Gajeel could get, he had witnessed it first hand when they had met for the first time, only Natsu could beat him in that fight though, but it would have been a lot shorter if Erza wasn't away for a kendo tournament.

"Don't think that just because your much bigger than me that your can intimidate me, and whats with the whole 'put up with me' thing your blabbing about!? I'm the one whose had to put up with your insults for the whole damn day, so don't get all high and mighty on me!" yelled Levy.

Well… nobody was expecting that, especially not Gajeel, if his face didn't show as much. Hell not even Juvia saw that coming.

Gajeel was not only shocked by her comeback, he was actually impressed by it. this was the first time somebody had actually stood up to him before, well besides Erza and Natsu, but they were friggen monsters, this girl didn't even look like she could hurt a fly, throw a book at one maybe but not inflict damage onto it with her own hands.

Speaking of her hands they were trembling slightly, which didn't go unnoticed by him, he got it now, even though she knew she couldn't possibly win in an actual fight against him she was still standing up for herself.

He didn't know why but he suddenly felt this strange sense of affection for this girl, like the kind he had for his cat, not in any other way of course.

Gajeel smirked and started roughly patting the shrimp on the head, like you would to a dog that just learned a new trick; now if your thought everyone had a shocked expression before you should see them now, especially Juvia's and Gray's; their jaws were practically on the floor.

"You know something shrimp your alright in my book" he said, suddenly cringing when he realized he said the word book to a girl who liked to beat him with them.

Levy scowled and clenched her fists, while also trying to fight the blush off her face at being looked down upon; crap did this guy annoy the shit out of her.

"I'm not a shrimp asshole…" she muttered angrily.

"Gihihi" he said with a grin.

Meanwhile Gray and Juvia were still standing next to each other with flabbergasted expressions.

"J-Juvia has known Gajeel for a long time, and she's never seen him be that… that…" said Juvia failing to find the words.

"Creepy? Out of character? Insane? Bipolar? Affectionate? Take your pick I'm sure its one of them" said Gray agreeing with her.

Juvia just nodded her head in agreement.

"Well whatever the hell it is I hope he doesn't direct it at me" said Gray who raised his hands in surrender.

"You know I can hear you right stripper?" said Gajeel with an annoyed look on his face.

Gray just smirked at him, not caring in the slightest.

"Ah, by the way Levy-san where is Lucy-san, she didn't get caught up in the fight now did she?" asked Juvia slightly worried.

'Lucy?' thought Gray, wait, didn't Natsu mention that name before!? Holy shit! The chick that Natsu's been having dirty dreams about is actually here?! Oh man he cant wait to start teasing him about it.

Suddenly realization flashed across Levy's face; Lucy was gone… she had disappeared… and now that she thinks about it Salamander isn't here either.

"Oh no! I lost sight of Lu-chan!" yelled Levy as she gripped her hair in shock.

"Eh?! What do you mean you lost her!?" yelled Juvia in shock.

"I saw her with that Salamander guy and he was trying to take advantage of her during the confusion, so I kicked him in his face, I was about to pull Lucy out of there but then I somehow got pulled into the fight and lost her" yelled Levy.

[A/N: Wow Levy, selective memory much? That is soo not how it happened]

"Shrimp is there something wrong with your head, that's not what happened, you just kicked him in the face for no good reason and then started attacking Cana coz she called you short" said Gajeel confused, seriously was this girl for real?

"I'll start attacking you soon if you don't drop the 'shrimp' thing" said Levy with her teeth and fists clenched.

Gajeel just smirked, man he loved ticking this girl off, she was a real riot.

"So basically you lost Lucy and Salamander at the same time… which means they disappeared somewhere… together… alone… in an empty school building… a really strong guy… and our sweet innocent Lucy… alone…" said Juvia.

Levy knew she was just about to snap, she could feel it, so she cringed to get ready for the impact of an angry Juvia rant…

"ARE YOU COMPLETELY OUT OF YOUR MIND!?"

Yup, there it is…

"Sumimasen, sumimasen, sumimasen!" said Levy as she repeatedly bowed her apologies to Juvia in an attempt to calm her down.

"Yeah you better be sorry! Who knows what that ruffian is doing to our poor Lucy at this moment, oh, the thought sends chills down Juvia's spine!" she yelled.

Well she would have chills if she weren't busy imagining her and Gray doing things in the school building instead, she unknowingly started to show a creepy grin on her face.

"Gah don't make me think about that! But what are we gonna do!? Eh, wait a second" said Levy suddenly, and evil smirk showing on her face as she started to look at Gajeel.

He flinched at her creepy-looking face and backed away slowly, not knowing what she was thinking, and getting a little creeped out.

"You know the Salamander right?" Levy asked Gajeel.

"Uh yeah?" he answered cautiously.

"So you have his contact info right?" she asked, slowly getting to her point.

"Um yeah, w-where are you going with this?" he asked nervously.

"Hehehe, you did want to get back at him for making your hair pink right?" she asked with an evil grin.

Suddenly Gajeel caught on to what Levy was suggesting and grinned evilly as well.

"So what exactly did you have in mind?"

She could feel his breath on her lips but made no movement, it was like she was in a trance, similar to the one he was in.

They were slowly closing their eyes and then…

-"On a cold winter morning, in the time before the light
In flames of death's eternal reign we ride towards the fight
And the darkness is falling down and the times are tough all right"-

Natsu and Lucy jumped apart from each other at the sudden onslaught of music that hit them at full volume.

Natsu recognized it as his ringtone and started fumbling for it in his pocket.

-"We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days
Through the fire and the flames we carry on."-

"H-Hello?" he answered.

"Oi flame-brain where the fuck are you!?"

"Eh? Gajeel, what the fuck man!?" yelled Natsu.

"Don't 'What the fuck' me, your supposed to be at the archery dojo right now! Do you know how pissed Erza is right now!? What was so important that you would risk getting killed by her!?" yelled Gajeel.

"Well, I… um…"

Natsu couldn't continue, wait, what was he just about to do? Oh that's right he was going to kiss Lucy… WHAT!? Oh holy crap on a cracker, just what the hell was wrong with him!?

But he couldn't help himself… it was like he was being drawn to her like some kind of magnet or something… BUT STILL!

Maybe that short chick scrambled his brains with that kick!? That had to be it! there was no other logical reason for Natsu to try and kiss a girl… especially Lucy!

Bu her lips looked so pink and… plump… and just…kissable…

"Gaaah!" yelled Natsu as he started slamming his head on the sick-beds pole.

Meanwhile Gajeel was smirking knowing he managed to rile Natsu up and maybe even make him go clinically insane… the guy was already crazy, but if he were clinically crazy that would at least get him into the loony bin.

Lucy wasn't having the best time right now either, her face felt like she had been inside a sauna for hours, and she kept on replaying that scenario in her head, she almost kissed Natsu… she almost kissed Natsu… she almost kissed Natsu…

And it looks like that memory alone broke her brain.

She couldn't face him, she had to calm down, she had to restart her brain and start functioning like a normal person, first thing on the list; clam down your heart that's going as fast as a mouse or else you might die.

After Natsu felt like he was about to knock himself out he finally stopped hitting his head and refocused his attention on the person on the phone.

"You still there tin-face?" he asked with a strangled voice.

"Yeah, been listening to you hit yourself the whole time too, wish I was there to see it" said Gajeel smugly.

"Shut up asshole, so what's the story with the dojo now?" asked Natsu, not really caring, as he pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"Uh, apparently the Mermaid Heel girls are leaving… and Erza ordered us to clean up the mess that they so kindly left behind… yeah that's it" said Gajeel, who sounded confused but that went completely unnoticed by Natsu.

Of course Levy was telling him what to say the whole time in order to convince Natsu to bring Lucy back; she was so worried about her.

"Ah, ok, fine I guess I'll see you there" said Natsu half-heartedly, feeling totally dejected because of what almost happened, and now he had to face Erza's wrath… why was the universe so cruel to him?

[A/N: I should feel guilty, I really should, but… this is just too funny XD]

"Well gee don't sound too eager now, just hurry your ass over here or else you'll have Erza and ME to deal with" complained Gajeel.

"Yeah if your trying to scare me your doing a crappy job of it" said Natsu.

*beep*

*beep*

*beep*

Well… he hung up on him, he never was the mannered type, but then again neither was Natsu, but that was still rude.

Now he only had a bigger problem to deal with…

HOW IN THE HELL WAS HE GONNA TALK TO LUCY AGAIN WITHOUT IT BEING AWKWARD!?

If anybody can guess what Natsu's ringtone is and who sings it I'll give them a cookie~

[A/N: Phew finally, that's where I'm ending it today, I bet you all really hate me right now, and I know I trolled ya'll big time, but its too soon for them to kiss! Well that's my opinion anyway. But if you got something to say please leave a review, no threats this time, also don't forget to check out the poll on my profile page, it has to do with this story so you'll really need to see it, and vote of course XD]