Chapter 10

Sensei Natsu

Lucy sat at the piano bench with Natsu on the seat behind her. It was the following Monday and both Natsu and Lucy were having some major music writers block

"What the hell Luce, I thought your talent was to write entire songs on the spot!" Natsu angrily grumbled. Lucy laughed, knowing he was joking, and then sighed.

"I don't know, nothings coming to me, maybe I'm just not inspired in here ya know? Plus, Mira's assignment this week was to create a song of a different genre and your dumb ass signed up us for rock! Of all things Natsu." Lucy face palms. "Any other genre I could've managed but I don't think I have ever even listened to rock music." She pouted. Natsu stared at her in absolute astonishment.

"ACDC, Queen, Black sabbath, Metallica. You haven't heard of any of them?" Natsu almost cried. How could his best friend be so musically uncultured to not even know the classics.

"Yeahhhhh, no sorry! My dad hated all music except classical, so I honestly grew up listening to that and whatever my mom played on the radio."

"C'mon lets go on a walk, I'll show you the classics and then maybe it will inspire something for us." He said. The two packed up and were excused by Mira, who was too focused on her advanced calculus homework to even care about where they would be running off to.

Lucy and Natsu headed to the roof, a new hangout spot for the group since the cafeteria meant risking seeing Laxus at lunch. Natsu kicked the door open. "Ahhhhhh, fresh air." He sighed and sat on the electricity box. Natsu whipped out his phone and began playing Bohemian Rhapsody, which he believed was arguably the best song ever written, but also was a great way to ease Lucy into rock music. Knowing his Lucy, He figured if he showed her death metal, she would die of a heart attack.

"Is this real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality!" Natsu sang like a fool to Lucy. She giggled as he got up and danced around the roof while singing like an absolute madman.

"Mamaaaaaaa, just killed a mannnnnn. Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger now he's dead. Mamaaaaaaaa, life has just begun. But now I've gone and thrown it all away." Natsu continued to sing loudly, he acted out the words as he danced.

"DUN DUN DUN" Natsu was now pretending to play electric guitar. Lucy absolute lost her shit, she pulled out her phone and started to record him singing.

"MAMAAAAA. OUUUUUUUU DIDN'T MEAN TO MAKEYA CRY. IF IM NOT BACK AGAIN THIS TIME TOMORROWWWWWW." Natsu belted, he sees Lucy's phone on him and decided she didn't get to have all the laughs here. He ran to her and pulled her in to dance with him.

He sang the words, and he spun her around, she giggled and followed his lead.

"MAMMMAAAAA. OUUUUUUUUU." They both sang aloud.

"SOMETIMES WISH I'D NEVER BEEN BORN AT ALL." Natsu continued. They both began to play air guitar to the guitar solo of the song

Once the guitar solo ended Natsu looked at Lucy wildly, "Luce this is the best part! Ready? Just listen. "

She listened to the song, she was blown away by the insane vocals and the uniqueness of the song, she had never heard anything like this before. The songs use of the piano was magnificent, she never thought that there would be piano in rock, but she stood corrected.

As the second guitar solo began Natsu dove onto his knees to pretend play guitar again. He whipped his hair back and forth like a madman.

"So, you think you can stone me and spit in my eye? So, you think you can love me and leave me to dieeeee! OHHHHH BABYYYYY, CAN'T DO THIS TO ME BABYYYYYY" Natsu yelled, still on his knees.

Lucy stood back and watched him jam out, she loved how in the moment he was, she had no clue that this was his favourite song, it was honestly starting to become hers too.

The song slowed down and Natsu approached Lucy, using his hand as a fake microphone, he sang her the rest of the song. He looked like a fool, but Lucy couldn't help but blush, even in moments like these she thought he was the most beautiful person alive. She smiled up at him and he gave her a sweet smile back. The song finally ended and Natsu took a deep breath.

"Man, that one winds ya, worth it though." He said with a cheeky grin. Lucy just nodded her head and went to her phone which she had propped up right before he had dragged her to dance. She caught the entire thing on video, the idea of having that moment forever on her phone made her heart feel warm and cozy.

"Well, I'm definitely inspired, but were missing somebody…." Lucy said.

Natsu turned to her and gave her a quizzical look, "And who may that person be Luce?" Lucy gave him a weak smile, one that said I'm sorry within it.

"No, Luce NO WAY! WE ARE NOT BRINGING GREY IN ON THIS ASSIGNMENT!" He whined in protest. Grey and Natsu were fire and ice; water and oil; they just didn't mix well.

"Oh, C'mon Natsu! We will need a drummer and Grey plays, plus he said he was doing this assignment alone yesterday and was also struggling. Pleaseeee! For me?" Luce gave him her puppy dog eyes, a technique that had yet to fail her in getting what she wants.

Natsu covered his eyes with his hands, "No you can't use those against me Luce, like this I am immune." Lucy took that as a challenge, she walked up to him and slowly lowered his hands, she held them in hers as she gave him round two of her puppy dog eyes. Natsu's face contorted as he fought internally against himself.

"Luce no- we cant, please he's just… Ughhhhhh FINE OKAY JUST THIS ONCE WE CAN PARTNER UP WITH ICE BRAIN." He said. Lucy jumped up in down in excitement.

"Yay great! C'mon lets go get him!" She clasped her hands together and ran to the door of the roof, Natsu walking slowly behind her, back down to the music room.

"C'mon guys you have to stop hating each other, for the sake of the assignment and the rest of our poor friend group." Lucy said. They were all back on the roof as it was now lunch time.

"What happened Lu?" Levy asked, she was sitting in between Gajeel's legs eating sushi while feeding him a piece every few moments.

"We all paired up for a music assignment, except I spent the rest of class being a mediator for the couple." She said annoyed.

"We are Not a couple!" Grey interjected, "I would never stoop so low, even I have standards." He continued.

"Hey I am WAYYYY beyond your level Grey, you only wish you could get some of this." Natsu retorted while gesturing to his body. Juvia was soon holding Grey back, preventing him from attacking Natsu.

The groups focus soon shifted to Erza, who looked sad. "Hey Erza, everything alright? You have barley touched your strawberry cake." Lucy said, she was the only one not scared to ask Erza if she was alright, the rest of the group was beyond too scared of getting beaten to death.

"Yeah, I'm okay Lucy, thank you for asking, just having a rough day." She replied quietly. Erza had gotten into a fight with Jellal, something that rarely happened between the two.

Lucy noticed Jellal wasn't there for lunch and immediately connected the dots. Jellal and Erza weren't dating but Jellal's feelings for her were obvious. "Maybe it has to do with that?" Lucy thought. She didn't pry though, its not a conversation for the entire group, she knew if Erza wanted to talk, she would come to her.

Erza kept her head down, Jellal's worlds ringing through her head

*Flashback

It was the Friday before, she and Jellal had gone to a café after school together to share a slice strawberry cake. It was something they did at least once a month, a tradition Erza cherished. After he two sat at the booth, Jellal attempted to hold Erza's hand, she politely moved her hand away. Jellal gave her a weird look but neither brought it up. That was until Jellal began to walk Erza home.

"Erza." Jellal said in a serious tone. Erza stopped walking and turned to face him. Jellal was a very patient person, especially when it came to her. When she dismissed his feelings time and time again, he did not say anything. He knew Erza loved him but that she also feared love, it was something from her childhood that even he didn't know about that had left her this way. He figured he would give her time, but it had been years now, and he could no longer stand to love a girl who would constantly push down her love for him.

"I can't continue to play this game with you Erza, I can't continue to push away my feelings for you." He said. Erza stood shocked; she didn't have a word to say. Confrontation was not something she enjoyed, especially with Jellal. She knew she couldn't dance around the subject forever, but she hoped to.

"Jellal, I'm sorry, I just can't." She replied, she couldn't bare to look him in the eye.

Jellal strode towards her. In one swift moment, he lifted her chin and kissed her. Erza gasped; she kissed him back for a moment but then pushed him away.

Her eyes began to water, "Jellal, I know I am hurting you, but I just can't. I can't bare to admit my love for you only for you to leave…"

"Erza," he took her hand and placed it on his chest, just above his heart. "Do you feel that? My heart beats for you, I promise you I will not go anywhere. If I try my heart would cease to beat." He said.

Erza began to shake; she was taught as a child to love is to hurt. And to give someone your heart was to give someone to the ability to hurt you. She took her hand off him and took a step away.

Jellal sighed, he really thought she would be able to overcome it, but whatever hurt her in the past continued to haunt her today. In the end, Jellal could not wait around forever only for Erza to be unable to accept his love, it wasn't healthy for either of them. He knew if he stayed, he would begin to resent her for not loving him back. When love has no where to go it rots into hate.

"Erza, you wear your past not only like armor, but like shackles. Holding you back. I love you; I love you so much it hurts. And I can't keep hurting myself like this. I'm sorry I cant just continue to blindly be your friend because we both know we have always been more than that. I have continued to pretend there is nothing between us because I know how much it scares you. But every time I see you, my heart beats faster. You are my first thought in the morning and the last one before I rest. Please… try, try to accept my love for you." He said as he took a step closer.

Erza began to cry. She wanted to, she wanted to accept her love for him so badly it tore her in two. But the fear was too much for her, the fear of being ripped to pieces all because she let herself be vulnerable. Jellal was right, she wore her pain like shackles.

"Jellal I-. please… please don't leave. I promise I will try, but I just need time. I-." Erza tried to speak but Jellal cut her off.

"Erza, I will be here when you are ready, but in the meantime I think its best I keep my distance. I have to protect my heart too." With that Jellal walked away.

In the end, Erza's fear of loving meaning loosing turned out to be wrong. As it turns out, denying love does that too.

*End of flashback

Erza shook her head, wiping her mind clear of all her thoughts, she would fix this. But for the moment she let herself gain comfort from the friends around her

The rest of lunch proceeded as usual with Grey and Natsu attempting to rip each others heads off, Erza smacking them both, the group teasing Gajeel and levy who had finally announced their relationship, and Loke talking about one of the million girls he was currently seeing.

Before lunch ended though, Lucy pulled Natsu to the side.

"Hey Luce, what's up? He said in an upbeat tone. He was always in a great mood after lunch after eating whatever Alex had made him and Lucy that day.

"I need a favor, you can say no of course, but I just don't know who else to ask." She said shyly.

"Anything Luce, Whatcha need?" He said

"I-uhm," Lucy took a deep breath, "I want you to teach me how to fight. I remember you told me you do MMA, and other things cus of your dad, I want to learn. Could you teach me?" She said slowly looking up to meet his gaze. He looked as her confused.

"Fight? Luce why would you want to learn? I promise I will always be there to beat someone up if you need, no need to get yourself all messed up." He said while laughing. He couldn't imagine Lucy fighting someone as it would be so out of her character. Lucy loved all things kind and quiet, brutal fighting skills didn't really mesh with that.

"I know but truthfully Natsu, you won't always be around to protect me, there may come a day again where I won't be able to fend someone off. This is me taking a step to help myself heal you know? Your right, it may not be necessary, but it would give me some piece of mind." She said.

After her sleepover with Levy, Lucy had decided she would take her life into her own hands. She would no longer allow herself to feel like the weak child she once was. She needed to be stronger, and with Laxus at the school she knew having some training on self defense may unfortunately come in handy.

Natsu stared at her, he suddenly understood why she wanted to learn. Protecting Lucy meant letting her also feel protected by herself, and he would do anything to give her that.

"How about after our practice with Grey today? I'll take you to my dads dojo and we can start off with some basics, how does that sound?" He said

Lucy beamed. It may not seem like much, but to Lucy this was everything.

"Perfect! Cya after class Sensei Natsu!"

I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS; I simply write the plot :) All rights are reserved by the creators of Fairy Tail.