Hey everyone! I'm back for chapter 2!

I would just like to say thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the story so far, it really means the world to me (:

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail, everything about it belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Chapter 2

They were kissing heatedly, bodies glued together. Natsu's mouth trailed to the blonde's neck, nibbling at the soft skin he found there, causing her to let out a sigh of sheer pleasure. Lucy's hands trailed down his back, pulling his frame closer to her, leisurely moving her hips against his. She eagerly ran one of her hands over his broad, muscular back and slipped the other into his soft, unkempt hair, encouraging his ministrations. His hand trailed down her stomach, so slowly the tension almost pained her. She let out a whining noise as he pulled back from her, his hand moving to her cheek, caressing as he looked straight into her large fawn eyes.

"Lucy, I-" the boy began, but was cut off by a strange, shrill cry. They both looked around confused, and when their eyes met again Natsu was wearing a frown. He grabbed her shoulders, and began shaking her gently. "Luce, hey Luce!" his voice seemed far off, as if he were behind a thin wall, as apposed to in front of her. "LUCE! WAKE UP!"

The blonde snapped up quickly, causing the boy who had been shaking her to jump back in surprise. She took in the surroundings groggily through half-lidded eyes. They were in a cozy train carriage, light flooding through the wide window to her left which revealed a serene green field, dotted with horses. A loud screech came again from the train, signalling its stop. Lucy blushed at the memory of her dream, silently cursing her rather vivid imagination. Her attention turned to the salmon haired mage in front of her, who was giving the 'you-are-insane' look.

"Sorry Natsu, guess I fell asleep huh?" the blonde offered.

"Yep," -he nodded in agreement- "and you were snoring too!" The boy laughed at the death glare he was getting from his team-mate. "Can we get off this thing now? Before it starts moving again?" he shivered at the very thought.

Lucy nodded, and stood, stretching her aching limbs; sleeping on a train did bad things to your back. Natsu had already zoomed out of the carriage on onto the platform, impatient to get away from his one weakness – motion sickness. The Celestial Spirit mage donned her heavy backpack and fixed her outfit quickly, lost in her thoughts as she slowly moved to leave the train.

That particular dream had become all too familiar in recent months, and it always ended similarly; with a sudden interruption and a VERY frustrated Lucy. She had told herself it was stupid, that he was her nakama and nothing more, but the dreams kept coming back persistently. What was her sub-conscious hinting at?

She jumped down onto the platform, smiling slightly at her companion. He smiled back, walking to her side.

"So Luce, where are we meeting this Lord Ikito guy?"

"I assumed we were meeting him here, I guess we'll just have to wait…" the blonde shrugged before spotting some benches on the platform, and signalling for him to follow, they sat.

The train station wasn't particularly busy in the afternoon and the people moved sluggishly in the summer heat. The train whistled again before pulling away from the stop, chugging out of sight and exposing the pair to the intense glare of the sun. Their mission couldn't have come soon enough, the daunting issue of rent hovering over Lucy's head like a cloud that was threatening to burst. She had asked Mira about The Great Forest shortly before their departure, and quickly learned of its reputation for housing dangerous wild animals and bandits and general 'bad guys' as Mira had put it, but by then it had been too late to turn down the mission. Plus, 100,000 jewels was good pay, even for a two man mission. Natsu interrupted her thoughts with a fit of coughing, and she turned to him, frowning.

"Are you alright Natsu? You're not getting sick right?" she was understandably worried, a bed-ridden team-mate could seriously jeopardize the mission.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he cut in hastily "what do you think this guy's like then?" Lucy's eyebrows knitted together at the abrupt change of subject but let it drop. Natsu wasn't the type to admit to weakness easily, and she knew she wouldn't get any more out of him.

"I was thinking short, fat, self-involved, but you can never be too sure. He's definitely rich or powerful, why else would he need a guard?" Her answer was absent-minded and concern was clear in her expression as she eyed the fire-mage, looking for anything out of place. He looked slightly flushed and there were several fresh scars on his arms from their last mission, but nothing more. She looked up to his face and caught his quizzical look.

"Like what you see?" he shot her a devilish grin and waggled his eyebrows, causing blood to race too her cheeks and she slapped him on the back of the head, rage surfacing from the temperamental mage.

"I," -slap- "was not" -slap -"checking you out!" she screeched in pure frustration. Plus if I were too look I wouldn't get caught her mind chimed in, triggering a fresh wave of heat to reach her face. The boy laughed at her tomato red face as he rubbed his head. Clearly she had not done any damage to the insatiable dragon-slayer, and she was inwardly glad. For all their bickering and play fights, she never felt truly angry towards him; no matter what he did. To some extent this worried her, as his actions were often outrageous and mostly very stupid, but Lucy had come to terms with her feelings towards Natsu almost as soon as they emerged. Not to say they were welcome; it was quite the opposite, as she hated the way she became so flustered over the slightest contact with the boy.

They were both staring blankly out at the scenery, both completely detached and lost in their own thoughts when a figure approached them and cleared his throat, instantly grabbing the pair's attention.

"Are you the Fairy Tail mages that took on my mission?" the man asked in the heavily accented tone of the upper class. Lucy looked him up and down, shocked at the man stood before her. He was tall; at least a head taller that Natsu and looked a year or two older. He wore a long-sleeved black dress shirt, modest faded-blue jeans and dark green hunting boots. The most striking feature of this man was his hair, ebony and short, in a careless style that framed his masculine features incredibly well and probably cost more than a years rent to achieve at the barbers. His eyes were a piercing deep emerald shade and his nose was like those on Greek statues, strong and prominent. His lips were thin and almost exactly the same shade as his skin; a light olive shade that was no doubt caused by sun rather than genetics. Holy crap, he's hot! Lucy's mind concluded from the once over and she stood, suddenly very aware of her appearance.

"Lord Ikito?" her question was incredulous. He was the polar opposite of what she'd expected and was stunned, her eyes glued to his. His lips curved into a broad smile, revealing straight, white teeth and bowed lightly, taking her hand and pressing his lips against it gently. Lucy blushed.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance. I assume you must be Lucy, the Celestial Spirit mage?" she was shocked by this, and her expression showed it. The man chuckled warmly. "I assume this because the reputation of the most beautiful mage in Fairy Tail precedes you, as well as the lovely shots of you in the Weekly Sorcerer." By now Lucy was blushing furiously for the nth time that day and simply nodded, taking her hand back. She had been asked to do a modelling spread for the mage-communities most popular magazine and had jumped at the chance, but she still felt slightly embarrassed of the attention it bought her.

Ikito's attention turned to Natsu and his eyes widened in recognition. "And this must be the infamous Salamander! Quite the little time bomb aren't you? You're very good as causing destruction." His smile turned into more of a sneer and didn't hold out his hand to the Dragon Slayer. Natsu looked at the man intensely, anger flashing across his eyes, clearly angered by the shot as his pride, but there was something more too it. He had been watching Lucy and the man's interaction and it bought a troubling feeling to his stomach. It was entirely unpleasant and unwelcome to the fire-mage. It was the sort of possessive, protective feeling that was unmistakably one thing, and one thing only (thought Natsu would never admit to it). Jealousy.

Chapter 2 done! Yay!

I would really like some feedback for this one, I am nervous that the readers and fans of the first chapter will feel let down by it.

I will try and do a chapter every week, promise ^^

R&R please (:

DrAnime203 x