NALU - Ninja AU

Rated M for slight violence and basically a full chapter of smut (Chapter 2). In other words, ya' girl has sinned.

A story where Natsu and Lucy finally complete a difficult mission, but without complications that they desperately need to sort out. A day filled with banter, sexual tension and jealousy that finally has them arguing, and of course, things get heated...

~ Euphine

A quick slash to the throat had the unsuspecting man dropping to the ground.

She gave a soft, relieved sigh. Finally, months of chasing has come to a close. Now she can go home and take the long awaited bath she's been dreaming of.

The girl hears a barely audible creak behind her. A creak that without years of training, she probably would not have picked up on the small sound. Calmly, she quickly cleans the blood from her knife onto the man's shirt before her, watching the blood mar the silk clothes of his riches.

She turns her curvaceous figure, the baggy, black clothes doing little to hide her well-endowed body, while tucking the knife back into the hidden contraption in her wrist. She raises an eyebrow at the man as he pulls his mask down to reveal a pout.

"No fair, Luce." He whines, pink hair matting his forehead. "You got the final kill last time."

She pulls down her own mask, rolling her eyes. "Natsu, you can just get the next one," Lucy reassures him impetuously.

"But we've been working on this one for months. I was looking forward to it." Natsu maintains his pout as he walks up to her, clearly calling out for her attention. She rolls her eyes again and puts her focus back on the dead man sprawled on the ground, taking off the glimmering, golden ring embedded with a purple crystal from the hand of the dead victim. Evidence.

Plus, she wasn't exactly in the mood to carry the guy's severed head all the way back, so a ring atta do.

Focusing her attention back on the boy she's been raised with since birth, Lucy knew him well enough to know that Natsu didn't actually care on who got the last kill or not. He was clearly trying to get her to do something else for him.

Lucy leans in and gives a quick peck on his surprisingly soft lips.

"I'll reward you for your months of hard work tonight." She whispers seductively, lips brushing his as she speaks.

His expression morphs into a smirk. "Nin nin."

Natsu gives himself a mental high five, thinking, I knew she'd give in.

Pulling on their masks to cover their faces once again, both jump out of the cart and look behind at the other ten or so carts and horses, the dark night masking their bodies as they watch the slaves in ragged clothes hesitantly jump out of the car. The shaking people look around with clear trepidation on their faces before seeing the limp bodies of the horse riders and slave drivers. Excitement within the crowds begin to bustle. They're finally free!

"Is it okay to leave them like this? So far away from home…"

Natsu shakes his head, knowing his partner would ask that. He knew she had an immensely caring heart. Too caring, at times. But he loved her for it. "We can't do anything." He tells her solemnly.

And she knew he was right. Their job was originally to kill the lord and bring evidence that he died. Not free the slaves.

But when it came down to it nearly an hour ago, Lucy couldn't handle leaving the slaves to live whatever suffering they were being sent to, and Natsu agreed with Lucy wholeheartedly. So he went ahead and slaughtered the people that held them captive, while Lucy found the ringleader in the front cart.

Now, Natsu and Lucy wanted to go back and help the slaves back to their village, but that's the furthest their help can extend to. They can't risk it.

As the couple take once last glance to make sure the people are okay, they hear an excited voice. "It must have been the Raven. The Raven came to save us!"

They both hear the familiar name being uttered as the peoples' savior, the crowd getting louder and louder with excitement, and a smile bursts out on their faces. Turning to look at each other briefly, with a turn of their backs, the two jump into the forest, blonde ponytail and salmon hair glistening in the moonlight.

It's been such a long day, Natsu groans to himself as he patiently waits outside for his partner, looking at the children running around in front of him as he leans against the only barrier that separated him and Lucy; a screened wall. The kids roll in the grass, playing tag or some sort of chasing game like that. He didn't know, he didn't care. Looking up at the bright blue, clear sky, he tries to will time to go faster with his mind, eyebrows furrowing in concentration even though he knows it's an impossible feat to do.

"You look constipated!" A boy with spiky, black hair and impish eyes points at him as all the children laugh at his comment. Natsu's right eye twitches, realizing that the young boy looked stunningly similar to a certain someone that he found immensely irritating.

"Huh, wha' dy'a say?" Natsu growls. Knowing Luce will be just fine without his help, he immediately springs up to chase after the boy and teach him a lesson on respecting his elders.

While Natsu was doing that…

"How did you-" The older man's voice wavers, shaking in evident fear.

With a gentle tilt of her head, she looks up at the old man with her brown eyes. Her blonde hair is beautifully tied up in eloquent shapes and a fitting, blue kimono dressing her figure. A fan, printed with the design of a crashing wave, hid the smirk resting on her beautiful face. She wore white paint to hide the pale colour of her face and neck, and wore painted black and red stains around her eyes to give the illusion of larger eyes. It made Lucy look unnatural and unnerving to the man in front of her.

It was enough to hide her true beauty. No man has ever recognized her in a disguise. But, whether it be her plump lips, button nose, or a familiar feminine jawline, no matter how hard she tried to mask her looks, Natsu was always the only person to find out who she is, no matter what she wore. Something about her signature smell, according to his words.

Lucy blinks owlishly. Getting distracted by Natsu on another mission? Dangerous, but not a surprise. She turns her attention back on the man in front of her.

All while Lucy was thinking to herself, the man stared at Lucy with fear. Someone so innocent looking, and a female at that, has the family heirloom of one of the largest slave traders in the country.

"Is something wrong?"

She tries to urge him to talk, no longer distracted by her own thoughts.

He pears closer into those doe-like eyes. No. She is a woman who feigns innocence so eerily well. Those eyes show a much darker story than they entail. The fact that it lay in her hand was enough to make him shake with fear, even if he was thankful for what she did.

Lucy was watching the man closely, getting irritated by the second as her fingers roll the ring recreationally within her hands.

"Is there something wrong, sir?" She tries again, holding back the need to roll her eyes at him for wasting her time. She was getting more and more impatient, wanting to see Natsu as soon as she can despite how important this meeting was.

The man seems to snap out of his stupor, flinching as he quickly grabbed a heavy weight rice bag from the satchel that he carried with him. "Y-yes, yes, of course!" He says politely, voice quivering. A resounding thump is heard as it lands on the black table in front of the two.

The two are kneeling inside an enclosed room of an inn, facing each other with only a table to separate them. Japanese screens make up opposite walls, one that when opened up led to the greenery outside, harsh light shining throughout the well-crafted gardens. Lucy realizes she no longer sees Natsu's faint shadow against the door.

Lucy shifts her position on the soft pillow as the man awkwardly shuffles on the straw flooring. He looks up expectedly at Lucy as she reaches out one hand to grab the rough fabric of the rice bag, pulling the bag closer to her, as the other hand still holds up the fan to her nose.

This better be enough, she grumbles to herself in her head. Opening the beige bag, Lucy pears inside and sees the glistening gold, Koban coins. So many that she can't count. Excitement is all she can feel now.

Satisfied that this will help pay for Natsu and Lucy's next couple of years, she picks up the bag and sets it beside her, signifying that she accepted his offer.

The man sighs in relief, "Thank you so much for your help. You surely are the Goddess of the Mutsu area. I am forever in your debt, now that my daughter has been avenged." The man stands up stiffly, before giving a bow despite being nervous, tears rolling down his cheeks. Lucy's heart warms. This. This is why she does this. "Again, I am truly, truly thankful for all you have done."

She gives a small smile that is still hidden behind the fan, briefly closing her eyes and giving a small nod to the man.

The man bows again, before calling out a name. The screen doors open to reveal a young guard.

"Lord Reo, the carriage is ready for you." With one last bow, the Lord, dressed up as a lowly peasant to hide himself from prying eyes, leaves. Lucy remains staring at the black table.

Hearing the screen wall finally slide close, she sits there for a couple minutes, ears twitching and mind alert. Realizing that the coast is clear, she gives a heavy sigh. Wow, that took a lot out of her. She never in a million years thought that she'd successfully do business with the Lord of a whole region of all people.

She drops the fan on the table and stretches out her limbs, making a groaning noise as her body satisfyingly cracks into place, looking very unlike the 'Goddess of the Mutsu area', as the Lord so kindly put it.

Plus, it was just one of the aliases Natsu and her used when they were doing work.

A smile settles on Lucy's face as she thought back to today, yesterday, and the past couple of months. Everything went surprisingly as planned. Dropping her arms back to her sides after the back arching stretch, she walked over to the screen facing the outside and tapped twice on the wall, scratched it with her nail once, and tapped twice again. Outside the room, Natsu heard her loud and clear, dropping the kid's flailing body back on the ground as the kid swears at Natsu. The other spectating children laugh.

That should teach him a lesson, Natsu thinks smugly as the kid continues to yell profanities at him.

Like routine, Lucy slips out of her clothes with elegance, sewn cloth falling down past her shoulders and waist to drop dead on the floor. She picks up the kimono and throws it leisurely on the pillow she had recently kneeled on.

Now naked, she walks to the black table seated in the center of the room and opened the drawer that was on the side she sat at earlier. Lucy picked up a vial of red liquid from the drawer, opening the bottle to pour it messily on the floor, kimono, and pillow.

Satisfied at her set up of a fake murder, Lucy puts the now empty glass vial and the ring in the rice bag with the coins. She grips the rough fabric of the bag and walks over to the left side of the screen walls.

Lucy taps against a loose piece gently with her feet, and feeling how easy the wall bent under her bare toes, she squatted down and put one hand on the loose screen, pushing until she felt the weight break under her fingers.

The wood swings open like a door on its hinges, before collapsing pathetically to the ground. She squeezes through the small doorway before turning around to put it back in place.

"Phew." Lucy breathes, standing up.

Muscular hands suddenly grip her waist and she jumps, almost elbowing the guy in the solar plexus before realizing the weight of her partner's rough fingers. A weight that she's very familiar with on her hips.

"Natsu! Don't scare me like that." She turns her head to glare at the grinning boy behind her.

"Awww, Luce, you made me wait so long. And I'm a little upset since I just dealt with a mini Gray."

She pauses. "A mini, what?"

"A mini Gray. You know, the ice bastard?" He responds instantaneously.

Natsu and Lucy stare at each other for a couple seconds in silence, Lucy's back still against Natsu's chest and his hand holding her hips. Keep in mind that Lucy is still butt ass naked.

"So…" Lucy starts. "While I was getting the money, and while you were supposed to stand on guard for me, you were fighting someone that wasn't Gray, but looked like Gray?"

Natsu shrugs in response.

"I don't even-" Sometimes, she wonders why she ever puts up with him.

"So Luce, I do remember you saying that you'd reward me for all the hard work I put in the past couple of months." Natsu's voice drops, but he halts his hands before going anywhere below her hips. "And as much as I'd love to be rewarded right now, you still got all the white and red paint and stuff on your face, and I don't want you to complain about it later so you should wash up."

Lucy finally lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding, annoyed and frustrated.

Damn Natsu for making me horny, she heatedly grumbles to herself.

Natsu on the other hand, knew exactly what he was doing.

In fact, he decided he wanted to make her frustrated and wait for him as long as fucking possible. Because time and time again, Lucy kept throwing herself in danger during the mission to exile the slave trader, and overworking herself throughout the entirety of it. They were saving up so they could finance what they needed to finally settle down.

They weren't going to retire anytime soon. Their jobs as ninjas, or otherwise known as assassins, was going to remain a large part of their lives, but they sure as hell wanted a home for themselves to always come back to, and to limit how many missions and thus how much danger they'd be getting themselves into.

But seriously. If Luce was going to throw herself in front of Natsu, almost getting herself killed by the blade of their enemy, or jump off cliffs in order to rescue a slave that accidentally slipped off the edge, or willingly sacrifice herself in order to save a group of slaves and submit to a life of misery under the slave trader's hands…Natsu is most definitely going to make her as frustrated as he wants.

He grits his teeth. He loves his partner, but sometimes she really did take a toll on him.

It slightly hurt – scratch that, it really hurt - that Lucy was willingly to sacrifice herself so often, without thinking about how Natsu would feel. He knew it was irrational, he knew it was immature, but he couldn't help feeling that way. He wanted her all to himself. To be safe and in his arms and just-

"Natsu? Natsu!" He blinks and peers over at Lucy as he watches her try to struggle out of his grip on her hips. With a slightly tense chuckle, he lets go. He grabs the ragged, dark green kimono he's been carrying around with him on his shoulder for her to wear, and throws it on her head, covering her face and line of sight.

"Yeah, yeah, just put yer clothes on and go wash your face." Natsu tells her, turning to walk away from her. Lucy grabs the kimono from her face and looks at Natsu's retrieving back, stunned at his change in mood but chooses to not comment.

Lucy quickly puts on the clothes and undoes her crazy up-do, letting the hair flow freely past her shoulders and touch the end of her curved back. She grabbed the wet cloth that sat in a bucket of water in the corner of the room, already placed here for her a while ago for easier cleanup.

She wasn't aware of how Natsu felt as she gently patted her face and neck clean, muddling the water white, black and red. In fact, she was fairly ignorant to his troubles, excited to go out and celebrate with the reward money they had.

Natsu on the other hand, paced the room slowly as Lucy washed her face, feet feeling the straight texture of the straw floor. The taunt muscles of his body were flexed, making it quite clear he was agitated.

"I'm done." Hearing Lucy's voice, he relaxes and turns his head to look at her patting her face dry with the cloth. A couple rogue drops of water trails down her neck and he gulps. How was he so lucky to have such a gorgeous but also infuriatingly naive partner? Not like he was going to admit the first part. He can't have his weirdo getting cocky when he planned to make her suffer throughout the day.

"Finally Luce, I felt like I was getting as old as ma' pops." A wide grin broadens his face, excited for the day. "This is the first long break we've had in a while so let's go all out!"

Lucy's face lights up equal to Natsu's. "Yeah, let's go shopping!" She says at the same time as Natsu says, "Let's go eat!"

Lucy gives a I-knew-this-would-happen look and sighs, expecting as much. She nods at Natsu and compromises with her childhood friend. "How about this, let's check in with the clan first, go shopping, and then we can eat as much as you want?" She suggests, and sees Natsu nod his head vigorously.

His hand wraps around her wrist and pulls her along playfully, Lucy's eyes widening as they stumble out of the room together. She looks up at Natsu as he faces ahead, bringing them in the direction of their clan.

A smile dons on both of their faces as they head towards the clan base, a place they call home, and soon they'll be calling their second home.

The kid that Natsu thought looked like Gray sees Natsu running by and begins yelling profanities once again at him. Lucy sighs, quietly agreeing in her head that the boy really did look (and act) like a younger version of Gray.

The sound of their wooden sandals pattering the ground is dull as they run up the dirt path, long plains of grass blowing in the wind and the blinding light from the sun provides little heat. There are no clouds in the sky as the shadows of birds pass by. All in all, it was a perfect day - not too cold and not too hot for their little expenditure.

Natsu and Lucy make an abrupt turn and pass into a much larger village, running towards a small, run down shack with a blank, orange cloth covering the open entryway. Little statues and souvenirs of fairies and other mystical creatures are displayed in the front windows of the shop.

Natsu ducks under the cloth as he enters, Lucy following suite with her wrist still in Natsu's hand. He lets go in favour of actually holding her hand. Despite dating for years, Lucy's face and Natsu's ears still flush red at the smallest intimate act, both of their hearts racing as they see Lisanna standing behind the cash.

"Welco - ah! Hi Natsu, Lucy. You guys are looking as happy as ever." She giggles, wringing her hands behind her back at how adorable the couple look holding each other's hands. Natsu and Lucy give their greetings. They may be ninjas, lethal and well-hidden to a fault, but they still were a love sick couple in everyone else's' eyes. And it's been awhile since Lisanna's seen them ever since they went on their last mission. Speaking of which, "I'm guessing it was a success?"

Lucy nods in response. "Yeah! Took forever but we finished the job. I'll tell you and all the girls about it later when we have a girl's night. You won't believe the stuff we had to deal with." She starts chatting with her longtime friend, excited to catch up after being months away.

Lucy yelps in surprise as Natsu starts pulling her along again towards the hidden trap door behind the counter, beside where Lisanna stands. "Come on Luce, let's hurry. The sooner we leave, the sooner we get to eat." He tells her impatiently, clearly excited. "It was nice seeing ya' Lisanna!" Natsu turns to call at said girl as he drags Lucy down the steps towards the underground bar, Lisanna laughing at their antics.

They hurry down the steps, and once Natsu enters the room, chaos ensues once again.

"Hey ol' man Makarov – ACK!" Lucy feels Natsu's hand leave hers as he flies across the room, smoke billowing from the wall he just got smashed into. As the smoke clears, Makarov is seen walking away from Natsu's collapsed body with his hands held behind his back, looking as sophisticated as ever despite punching his student into the wall.

"That's what you get for being away for so long. And, I prefer gramps."

Lucy turns away from the bustling as she hears Gray yelling at Natsu for having slow reflexes and his usual insults – flame brain, fire breath, hot head…you get the gist of it. The crashing of tables and sounds of fists flying are heard while Lucy walks up to the bar, seeing Mira dry glass cups as she sees Levy and Cana spring up from their bar seats.

"Lu!" Levy's tiny body launches itself at Lucy and it makes her wobble on her feet. She would've fell over if it wasn't for Cana coming in to squeeze them both in a hug.

"Been quite a long time!" Cana exclaims. There is a brief moment before the drunkard turned the conversation to her favourite past time. "Let's celebrate with some booze!"

Lucy wheezes in the tight hug.

The two girls let the now out of breath blonde out of their hold as she inhales the air back into her lungs.

"Lu, you've got so much to tell us. You guys have been making a name for yourself. Everyone's been talking about the bringer of justice, the Raven." Levy cheers happily.

Cana smirks drunkenly at her blonde friend, slurring on her words. "The Raven, the bringer of justice. Mysterious and most active after dusk. People believe the Raven is a man, going from town to town to save those that need it. Little do they know, that ravens can also fly in pairs." Cana boops Lucy on the nose with her finger at the end of her verse. After catching her breath, Lucy chuckles at her clearly drunk friend.

"Since when were you so poetic?" She jests. Cana just shrugs in response.

"Guess I'm just talented."

Levy raises an eyebrow and makes eye contact with Lucy. Both give each other a knowing look before the two burst out laughing.

Lucy realized, she missed joking around with her friends. The stress from the last couple of months were such a big weight on her shoulder, that now that it's over, she feels absolutely amazing to finally have time for herself and her friends.

But for now, Lucy thinks to herself. I want to celebrate with Natsu first.

"I'll tell you all about the mission tomorrow. I'm just here to hand in our completed mission because uh, Natsu and I wanted some time alone, so…" She trails off as Levy squeals, hands clasped together as Cana chugs a cup of beer that magically appeared in her hand.

"Go get a good dicking!" Cana cheers before giving Lucy a slap on the back. She suddenly turns around and takes a smaller sip of her beer, quietly mumbling about how she wants to 'get some' soon, too.

The blonde rubs her now sore back and ignores her own flushed face, happy that no one but the girls heard Cana's outburst. Lucy looks around the room. Huh, wonder where Erza and Juvia are.

"Are you looking for Erza?" Lucy looks up and sees Mira leaning against the counter, her chin resting on both palms. She winks at Lucy. "Erza's away on a mission with Jellal right now. But in the meantime, I heard you wanted to spend some alone time with Natsu, huh?" Her eyes are sparkling madly and Lucy flinches. Scary.

"U-uh, anyway," Lucy clears her throat. She drops the rice bag, filled with Koban coins, the glass vial from before, and the ring she got from the slave trader, onto the bar. Rifling through the contents, she pulls out the ring and vial and hands it to Mira. "We've completed the mission."

Mira smiles, proud of her friends as she tucks the contents somewhere under the bar counter, before grabbing a pen and flipping through the pages of her notebook. She goes to Lucy and Natsu's log and gives them a checkmark beside the mission name to signify its completion, writing down how much money they made. Her mouth drops at the high number. "You and Natsu must have saved up enough money by now." She tells Lucy.

"Yeah, we did. I honestly can't believe it."

"That's great, Lu!" Levy pipes in, Cana nodding while drinking from another glass of beer. "You can finally go on that yearlong break you've been wanting."

"I'm so looking forward to it. And Mira, I'll just take 10 coins for today. Could you put the rest of the money in Natsu and I's safe?" Lucy asked. Mira nods, letting Lucy grab the 10 coins before she went into the back with the rice bag to put the money away. She comes back afterwards to talk idly with the girls about Erza and Jellal's recently developing love life.

Mid conversation, a louder crash than the usual is heard, loud enough for the girls to break their conversation and turn their heads to Natsu and Gray tumbling around on the floor, having broken another table in their fight.

"Ice breath!"

"Flame ass!"

Lucy vaguely wondered if their insults to each other would ever improve.

Juvia suddenly walks down the stairs from the entrance, having just finished a smaller mission. She wears the usual clothes on the job, a loose, black jumpsuit, but her mask is pulled down to reveal the entirety of her face. She looked tired.

Juvia looks up and notices Lucy. "Oh! Juvia hasn't seen Lucy in a long time. How have you been?" She rushes down the steps, blue hair flouncing as she walks up to her blonde friend.

Before Lucy could even respond, the loud fighting suddenly stops and the quietness of the bar is more loud than when Gray and Natsu fought. Gray suddenly appears beside Juvia, acting smooth as he slips his arm to lean on Juvia's shoulder.

"Hey Juvia." Juvia suddenly holds her wrist knife against Gray's throat and he makes a choked noise, raising his head to expose his neck in surrender.

"Juvia is still angry at Gray." And she turns and walks in the direction of the girl's washroom, her mood spoiled and leaving a quite comically dejected looking Gray behind.

"Ha! Whipped." Natsu calls out at his black haired rival as he follows after Juvia, calling out her name. Lucy rolls her eyes and sighs. It's always an interesting day at the Fairy Tail clan.

"Come on, Natsu. Let's go." Lucy waves at her friends goodbye, promising girl time tomorrow, and she starts to walk up the stairs out of the bar. Natsu immediately perks up and follows his partner with no complaint.

"Coming Luce!" The pink haired boy follows after Lucy like a puppy, before wrapping his arms around her waist as they walk up the stairs. Already used to his antics, she continues to walk up the steps while ignoring his body pressed tightly against hers.

Cana cackles at the image of them walking up the steps and Gray tailing after Juvia. "They're both whipped!" She yells.

Everyone present at Fairy Tail agreed.

Lucy and Natsu walked out of the shop, saying goodbye to Lisanna on the way out. Lucy left the money behind at Fairy Tail to store away until they needed more. In her pocket were only 10 gold Koban coins, but it'll be enough to last her for the day.

As they walk outside, Lucy looks up at the sky and realizes the once, clear blue is now covered by gentle, white clouds.

The day couldn't have gotten any better, is what she would have thought if not for the grown ass man attached to her hip.

"Natsu, let me go." She felt him shake his head 'no' against her neck. She sighs, something she realizes she does often around Natsu. "…we can hold hands, I g-guess." She finally relents, and he let's go in favour of intertwining their fingers, both blushing as usual.

They walk towards the first interesting stand, which because of Natsu's weird sense of taste, was his first choice. A bunch of masks litter the tables and Natsu briefly let's go of her hand to pick up a red mask, hovering it over his face and looking at Lucy.

"Wah! Don't I look hot?" He boasts, doing a weird crab walk type of thing while Lucy stares at him, snickering. The mask had an exaggerated puckered face and as Natsu got closer to Lucy, he made loud kissy noises to embarrass his blonde partner. She looks at him weirdly before putting her hand flat on the mask, and pushed his face away.

"Are you five?" Lucy giggles, watching him fall flat on his butt. He looks so stupid.

Natsu on the other hand, realized that he'll need to start putting his plan in action soon. Or, he guesses, right now.

Realizing Natsu had become silent instead of letting out an expected, boisterous laugh at his fall to the ground, Lucy watches him get up from the dirt floor with confused, brown eyes. He slowly stalks towards her in such a way where she felt heart accelerate, and she had the urge to take a step away from him. What's going on with him?

Leaning his head down towards her face, he slowly takes off his mask with his right hand. Lucy gulps as she stares at his daring smirk and lidded eyes being revealed. The mask is pulled all the way back and his salmon hair falls onto his forehead.

"I said," He leans towards her ear, close enough where his breath fans the lobe, twinging it red. "Don't I look, hot?" He softly bit her ear, and Lucy felt a quick zing go throughout her whole body.

Before Lucy's muddled brain could even comprehend what happened, he pulled away fast and placed the mask down back on the table.

"Thanks! You have a nice looking shop here." He tells the shop owner, a girl about their age who was blushing hard at what she just witnessed.

Lucy waddled after Natsu, heart beating rapidly and confused on why just acted so weird. He's never been like this before…at least not in public.

For Mavis's sake, Natsu (and her) got flustered by simply holding hands! She always wondered why he never felt embarrassed when doing anything remotely sexual.

"Hey Luce, walk faster." He pauses to stare back at Lucy's clumsy, waddling steps, and she speeds up to walk beside him. Natsu casually throws his arm around her shoulder to keep her close. In his head, he knew his plan was working.

Natsu and Lucy went along their day, going to a couple other stands to browse the selections, Natsu leaving touches along his blonde partner's body every so often. It had her becoming a blushing mess, highly sensitive to every move he made.

Once he had her try on a necklace, brushing her neck ever so gently as he clasped it behind her neck. After he was done, his hand gently cupped her neck as Lucy's heart hammered in her chest. She let out a quiet yelp as Natsu placed a small kiss on the junction between her neck and shoulder, her chest rising and falling fast as he pulled away to turn her around.

"Looks good at ya', Luce." He grins innocently, cocking his head slightly.

Lucy almost fainted right then and there.

And when they walked around the village, looking around in peaceful silence, he'd oh so slyly slip his from his waist slowly downwards, groping her so suddenly that she jumped and smacked him on the shoulder.

But after the smack, unexpectedly gone was his playful self. Usually after Lucy scolded him or told him off, he'd laugh about it or huddle away, scared of Lucy's wrath. But after every move he made, he'd pair it with a daring glint of his eyes, a slight lift of one corner of his mouth, or even a bite on his own lip as he looked at her as if she was the most beautiful girl in the world.

If this was any other day, Lucy would've thought that it was funny on how hard he was trying, but she quickly realized that there was something more serious in Natsu's eyes. It's almost as if he planned what he's doing. Scratch that, he probably did plan this. Natsu had a way of surprising her whenever he (very rarely) decided to think before putting something into action.

He started off slow, small touches and flirting here and there. But with each time, he increased the intensity. And because of the mission, they hadn't had any time to be completely alone in that way, in months. Lucy was undoubtedly frustrated.

All of that combined together had Lucy's mind truly a muddled mess, desperate for Natsu's attention. She often matched Natsu's intensity, she was as playful as he was in these situations. But she felt that tonight she'd be willing to give all the control to Natsu.

It was always really fun when he was in control…

She could feel her face heating at the thought. Agh, Natsu's turned me into a pervert.

Finally, Lucy got a break from Natsu's endless teasing as they eat noodles at a small, family owned shop. Too engrossed in his own food, he slurps the thick strings up without so much as a word to Lucy.

As she sips on the tasteful soup, Lucy reminiscences on how they first got into this type of relationship. Her childhood best friend, grown up taking baths together and training to be silent assassins since they could walk, had always appeared oblivious to the opposite gender. So as cliché as it was, she fell in love with her best friend. His goofy personality was always there to cheer her up, and she always was there when he needed her.

And in all honesty he was always extremely attractive in her eyes. She knew many girls had crushes on him, but she never really cared and found it mostly disgusting. Sure, he was attractive, but who cares?

But unfortunate, she started to care. As teens he still wanted to take baths with her much to her distaste. Obviously she denied his request, but after he barged into the shower bare for Lucy's eyes to see, she saw way too much than what she would like. Since than it was like a worsening illness.

The smallest touches, seeing his muscles ripple and the concentrated face he made as he worked out, Lucy couldn't really deny her growing feelings at that point.

Little did she know, Natsu felt the same way.

His way of finding out was much different. It was when he had a 'guy talk' with the males of Fairy Tail when all the girls went out together to do some 'girl stuff' (as Lucy called it).

When Wakaba started talking about the hot assets of the girls in Fairy Tail, it left Natsu confused.

"What's so good about boobs and butts?" The pink haired 16-year-old at the time, asked incredulously. Really, he didn't find any interest in a body part. Liking someone's boobs was literally the same as liking someone's hand.

And that's when everyone gave Natsu a crash course on romance, dating, girls, and of course, sex.

As they started talking about Lucy with other guys and her in ways he really didn't want to think of, he slowly realized that he really, really fucking hated the thought of her associated with any other male. And Natsu was especially furious at the thought of another guy trying to be as close, or even closer to Lucy than he was.

That really hit a nerve.

And since then, he'd been even more attached to her. Every single thing about her made him recognize how lucky he was to have such an amazing best friend as Lucy. Additionally, every single guy that talked to her irked him more than usual, to the point where even the smallest glance at her almost set him off. Until one day, he caught Lucy doing something that…the dude's talked about.

Natsu never thought that girls did that on their own time. He thought the Fairy Tail guys were just making it up. You can only imagine how surprised Natsu felt when he saw Lucy of all people, on her bed, spread out with a blissful, flushed expression on her face, biting her lip as little whimpers slipped out of her mouth.

Yup. After that he became even more of a mess than he already was.

After pining over each other for three years, Mira finally put her match making plan to work. Instead of making one of them confess to the other like a normal person, she made it look like Lucy disappeared so Natsu would have a literal mental break down and realize that anything could happen if he didn't hurry up and tell Lucy about his feelings.

Yes, we all know Mira is insane in her matchmaking.

Long story short, Lucy came back from a relatively small mission to a hysterical Natsu. They went home, and came back a couple.

Well actually it took a few days before Lucy could walk again, but once she regained that ability, they announced to everyone in the Fairy Tail clan about their new relationship. Everyone screamed a "Finally!", and that night the clan celebrated. It was one of Natsu and Lucy's favourite moments together.

Ever since then, they've worked together in harmony in all of their missions. That's actually when the name 'Raven' came about, even though it was because of a mistake. An influx of missions was coming from the Mutsu region, and people have been realizing a mysterious person has been constantly saving young woman from being kidnapped.

That mysterious person, was of course Natsu and Lucy.

On one particular mission, while Natsu saved a group of young woman from a small gang of bandits, he accidentally hurt a raven's wing that happened to fly by at the exact moment he was doing his final kill. Yes, it sounds unbelievable, but this actually happened.

He went to help the bird and one of the woman he saved tried to approach him to say her thanks. Lucy saw and quickly swooped down to get Natsu to leave before they were caught. After that, the woman saw a blur of blonde (which little did the woman know was Lucy's blonde ponytail) and a raven with its wing bandaged on the ground.

So rumour has it, the Raven is a blonde man that saves people when they need it most. Not the name Natsu and Lucy wanted for themselves as they didn't want a name at all, but they'll take it.

"Ya' gonna eat that?" Natsu asks, pointing at Lucy's half full bowl of noodles.

"Wait, gimme a sec." She quickly slurps up a couple more spoonful's before pushing the bowl towards her pink haired partner. "Here, you can have the rest."

Giddily, he quickly eats up the remaining foods in Lucy's bowl as she watches him, resting her cheek against the palm of her hand, elbow leaning against the table. Seeing a noodle splatter the side of his cheeks and leave a small trail of orange, she rolls her eyes as she grabs a napkin from the table. Lucy gently reaches out and wipes Natsu's cheek.

"Could you maybe not eat so messily?" She scolds, yet a small smile settles on her face. He puts down the bowl, looking wholly satisfied as Lucy dabs his lips.

Suddenly, his eyes flash as his one hand grabs her wrist, the other hand pulling the napkin away from her fingers swiftly. He leans down to give a small kiss on the tip of her index finger, before pulling it into his mouth and gently sucking.

Lucy gasps before biting her bottom lip, surprised but at the same time somewhat accustomed to this side of Natsu, as she rubs her thighs together to create some kind of friction. She hates to say it but Natsu really did have her wrapped around his finger, which she found funny because Natsu was literally wrapped around her finger right at this second (with his lips).

He drops her hand before leaning in to give Lucy a quick peck on her lips, pulling away to give her a small smirk.

"I-I think it's time to go home now." Lucy tells him shakily, reaching into her pocket to place two gold coins on the table.

"You go on ahead. I'll be in the washroom really quick." Natsu tells her, getting up to ask the shop owner where the washroom is. Lucy goes to walk outside with shopping items in hand, looking up at the cloudy, but dark sky. It's pretty - a purple and blue gradient hue colours it.

Today was such a wonderful day, Lucy thinks to herself.

A slight breeze blows by and Lucy shivers, realizing the evening was getting colder. She wraps her available arm that isn't carrying groceries and stuff they bought on their expenditure, around herself to keep in some of the warmth.

As Lucy rubs her forearm to keep her body warm, she hears the slow steps of people walking by. She continues to stare at the ground as the sound of footsteps pause in front of her. Oh hell no.

"Hey, pretty lady."

Lucy's eyes twitch.

Maybe she spoke too soon.