This is that NaLu thing I mentioned at the end of Magic under the Influence. Enjoy!

They belong to Hiro Mashima, but I think we can agree he drags the romances out way too long.

A pomelo is a large sweet citrus fruit, sometimes considered the least bitter of the citrus family.

It all began as a normal mission.

Lucy, Natsu, and Happy were to take out a dark mage who had been dousing people with a potion that induced sleep and them robbing them of all their valuables. His last victims had been around the docks of Port Harjuan, so the team was scouring the area for the criminal.

Lucy couldn't help but think back fondly to her first meeting with Natsu – how he had joyfully invited her to join Fairy Tail without a second thought. They were family now, and she shared a bond with all of them that extended far beyond anything she'd ever felt with her blood relatives. Even her beloved mother had often gently taken her father's side in many matters of Lucy's upbringing, because she had wanted their little girl to grow up to be a true lady.

Not so with Fairy Tail. Fiercely loyal to one another, they shared a bond of sacrifice and respect that no one could defeat – no monsters, no dark guilds, no menacing plots involving time travel and parallel worlds.

Finding the bandit proved to be the most difficult part of their mission. They had no descriptions to go on, since his sleep abilities knocked people out to turn them into easy targets. As for dispatching him, their greatest risk was being hit with the sleep potion themselves . Lucy had suggested nose plugs, on the reasonable assumption that the potions were scent based, like Ichiya's perfumes. The small plugs they'd obtained blocked their nostrils, but were not too obvious from a distance. They didn't quite fit into Happy's tiny nose, but they would have to do. Natsu complained that being without a sense of smell was like being half blinded.

With their noses safely plugged, it was a small matter of setting Lucy out as bait – a poor little rich girl on the wrong side of town. It was a role that was easy enough for her to slip into – a nice dress, some costume jewelry, and a fat purse. She walked along the business boardwalks where most of the robberies had occurred, looking for all the world like a socialite trying to enjoy a nice walk in the wrong place. Natsu and Happy followed behind her at a discreet distance.

All of their assumptions had been correct – a man emerged from an alley after Lucy passed, and quietly lobbed a vial onto the sidewalk just in front of her. A cloud of black smoke quickly rose up from the vial, and Lucy started coughing when she inhaled it before gracefully crumpling to the ground. She could be a pretty good actress sometimes.

The bandit began ruffling through Lucy's purse, looking for a wallet. He never noticed as Natsu approached him from behind and gave him a solid wallop on the head, knocking the man cleanly unconscious.

"Good job, Natsu!" Happy cheered, and help Natsu drag the man off Lucy.

Lucy stood up, grimacing as she looked down on the man at her feet. She was glad she couldn't smell anything. He was filthy and greasy, and he moaned as Natsu sat him upright bound him with a rope.

"I think we should find the local police as soon as we can," she said, trying not to shudder. "He's going to wake up any minute."

"Yeah, that's what the mission sheet said to do," Natsu agreed, and stood next to her, hands on his hips, staring down at the bandit.

The man regained his consciousness then, staring at them through slitted eyes.

"Guild mages," he hissed angrily.

"It's high time you paid for your crimes!" Lucy scolded. "Anyone who uses magic to hurt people or steal from them is scum."

The bandit shrugged. "So says you, miss." He gave her a slimy, wolfish grin, revealing missing teeth. "After life has knocked you around and society has given up on you, there's not much else left to do but fend for yourself. In fact," and here his creepy grin grew even wider, "I'm gonna give you kids a free lesson in the school of hard knocks right now."

He bit down on something in his mouth, and a plume of yellow smoke came out. She felt a small sting on the back of her neck, and instinctively reached up to touch it, glancing behind her. Nothing was there. She looked back at the dark magician, and saw that there were two gossamer strings coming out of his mouth, formed from the smoke. One reached out to Natsu, and one was connected to her.

"What the…?"

"You fancy guild types," the man muttered, giving her a creepy stare. Lucy shuddered. "You don't even stop to think about the resources of the people you're hunting." He smiled again, and in between his broken teeth there was an uncorked potion bottle. He spit out the vial. "The nose plugs are a novel idea, that's for sure. But that only blocks the sleeping potion part of my 'special' stuff. You still have to breathe…"

Suddenly, Lucy felt her body lose control, and she went stiff as a board. Natsu yelped as the same thing happened to him.

"Natsu! Lucy!" Happy cried, unsure what was happening. Natsu was suddenly untying the bandit, clearly against his own volition. When the ropes were untied, the man stood up and rubbed his head where Natsu had hit him.

"Put him down!" Lucy hollered, struggling against the invisible strings that were preventing her from moving.

"The girly is feisty! Even if she's not rich. I have a special present for you then, girly," the creepy mage said, rubbing his arms. "Feisty girls need to learn their place." He uncorked a third potion flask, and tossed liquid contents on Lucy's face. She flinched and recoiled from the stuff, but with her arms and legs controlled by the bandit she was unable to do anything about it.

It wasn't acid, Lucy realized immediately, nor was it another sleeping potion. She didn't know what it was, and it didn't seem to have any effect on her.

"You big meanie! What did you do to Lu-Ack!" Now Happy, too, was caught up in the puppet master's strings. His Era wings dissolved and he fell to the ground with a painful sounding thunk. The impact knocked out his nose plugs, and he quickly fell asleep from the vapors still in the air. Well, Lucy had been right about the scent based sleep potion, anyway.

"Why don't you two get cozy while I take my leave?" the man said, and Lucy and Natsu began stepping toward each other, straining and struggling against the forces that controlled them.

"You bastard! I'm going to kick your butt!" Natsu protested, even as he and Lucy were pushed right up against each other.

"What is this creep doing?" Lucy muttered under her breath, blushing fiercely as she was forced into an awkward embrace with Natsu. The dragon slayer too had turned a burning crimson as her breasts were pressed against him, and his hands forced to grasp her bottom. She found her hands reaching up to pull his head down toward her.

Both helpless to stop the inevitable, Lucy and Natsu's faces inched closer. She saw dangerous anger in Natsu's eyes – and fear.

"Now kiss!" the creepy man said, a note of utterly delighted perversion in his voice. "Ta ta for now, guild mages!" Lucy saw him turn and run away hurriedly from the corner of her eye. Dammit, that was rent money escaping!

She had more immediate problems to deal with, like kissing Natsu. Lucy's first kiss was not supposed to be like this. It wasn't supposed to be with Natsu either, although a little part of her body was actually very thrilled about it. The majority of her mind was protesting against the circumstances. The thrilled part was noticing how soft his lips were, and how wonderful his scruffy hair felt threaded between her hands, and how very much she wanted the hand that was grasping her bottom to slip into the waistband of her dress and touch her skin directly. Their nose plugs clicked against each other as their faces shifted. Pervy mage thankfully didn't make them French kiss or else she was certain she'd die of shame and embarrassment. As it was, they both had to pause briefly and gasp for air, since they had to breathe through their mouths. But each time they did, the dark mage's control on them returned, and they were forced to resume smooching again.

It lasted for several minutes. She wasn't sure when or if her spell wore off and she was just kissing him of her own volition, but she knew exactly when Natsu's spell wore off because his hand shot off her bottom and he shoved her away from him so fast that they both fell to the ground.

"What the hell was that?!" he yelped, still blushing fiercely. "What a perverted old creep. Has he been putting people to sleep and then making out with them?"

"You dumbass, he's been robbing them!" Lucy yelled back, trying not to be disappointed that the unexpected kiss with Natsu had ended so abruptly. "He just did that to us to… to escape."

She glanced over at the poor Exceed, who was still sound asleep.

They both panted for air, still unsure about what to think about that encounter.

Finally, Natsu managed to state the obvious. "Well, he's escaped."

"Yeah," Lucy said, unable to think clearly. Her body had reacted way too strongly to that kiss. She still felt the burning in her blood. She had wanted to keep kissing Natsu, to pull that wonderful salmon colored head in between her breasts and –

Mavis, what was wrong with her? She'd just been body-control violated by her best friend and all she could think about was continuing where they left off?

"I don't feel so well," she moaned, wishing she could take out the horrible nose plug and breathe.

"Neither do I," Natsu said, looking distinctly green. His face had the look it always did while he was on a train or a boat.

"That wasn't even a vehicle!" she said sternly. "Is the idea of kissing me so horrible that you're going to vomit over it?"

"Just getting my body taken over was bad!" he said, his face clearing up a bit as he fought off the sensation. "I felt so helpless."

"Me too… let's just get out of here," she said, standing up and brushing herself off. Her pretty dress had stains on it from where she'd landed in the alleyway when Natsu shoved her. "Pervy robber has surely skipped town by now." She glanced down the port strip but the streets were clear. For all she knew, he could have had a getaway boat.

"Awww man, no reward money for us?" Natsu scowled. "I'm gonna find him and kick his ass for that!"

"Not this time," Lucy said with a sigh. "We could hang out here for a few days to see if he's still around, I guess. But if he's smart, he'll move on to a different town. And I think he's a pretty clever one…" He was no run of the mill thief, what with being a potions master and thinking to have a mind control vial inside his mouth in case he was caught and his hands were tied up. "Let's just go back to the guild."

Natsu gently picked up the passed out Happy, and the team may their way out of the alleys of the Port. Both Natsu and Lucy were silent, thinking about the implications of what had occurred between them.

Lucy felt strange as they rode the train back to Magnolia. Natsu was dozing on her lap, as usual when they were forced into vehicular travel, his face flinching in his sleep as his motion sickness tormented him. She had a borrowed book from Levy to keep her entertained, as she usually did on missions that involved train rides, but she was having trouble concentrating on the words.

They had done this dozens, maybe a hundred times since she had joined Fairy Tail and they'd formed a team, but this time was different. As she looked down on his sleeping face, all she could think about was how close his mouth was to her…. well, her lady bits while he was sleeping on her lap. And how wonderful that pouty mouth had felt against her own. And how crisp and crinkly his hair had been under her hands.

What the hell is wrong with me? she moaned internally.

This was Natsu. Her partner her, best friend, and all around clueless dumbass. There had been a few times, very briefly, when she'd thought he might have romantic aspirations toward her, but those moments always ended with him doing something stupid and childish, like accidentally punching her in the face or demanding that they dig for buried treasure.

Yet that forced kiss had woken something inside her, something that was making her blood sing and her mind buzz and certain parts of her body ache in ways they had never ached before.

Absently, she stroked his jaw line. He stirred in his sleep under her touch.

Her mind began wandering again, to how luscious his muscles were underneath his one sleeved shirt. She kind of missed his old outfit, the one that had given her an unobstructed view of his washboard abs, but her memory was vivid enough. He exercised enough that his chest and back were almost hairless, except for the faintest whisper of pinkish hair that started at his bellybutton and pointed toward…

Heavens above, was Lucy actually fantasizing about the boy in her lap?

Her breathing had grown shorter, and the car suddenly seemed stifling hot. She had the urge to strip out of her dress and put on her usual halter top and mini skirt. Or nothing at all.

Would Natsu like her in nothing but an apron?

"Arrrrrrgh!"

With determination, Lucy stuck her nose into the book, trying to think of anything besides how wonderful it would be to kiss Natsu again.

"Levy, I think I'm sick."

Lucy was leaning over the table in the center of the guild. After she and Natsu had returned from their mission empty handed, she'd sent him home with the still zonked out Happy, and then practically ran into the guild, hoping to get some girl-type advice from Levy. She had a feeling she knew what was going on, but Levy was the only girl she knew that was in a long term relationship with a dragon slayer, and the script mage would surely be willing to share that info with Lucy.

She was in luck, and Team Shadow Gear was in between missions.

"You do look a bit flushed, Lu-chan," Levy agreed, leaning forward and smoothing away Lucy's bangs from her forehead. "What happened out on that mission?"

Lucy groaned. She didn't want to talk about it. But she had to.

"Um… the bandit uses a body control technique with his potions."

Levy's face paled, her mind obviously jumping to very bad conclusions.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Lucy buried her face in her hands. "No, he didn't physically touch me, or Natsu. He did knock Happy out, but I think that he'll be okay." She took a deep breath. "Levy, you've been dating Gajeel since the games, right?"

Levy's pallor faded away to a faint blush. "Yes," she said in a tiny voice.

"Because I remember reading something about dragon slayers in Sorcerer's Weekly…"

"Oh?"

"That they," and here Lucy took a deep breath, "they can go into a sort of… um… 'blood fever' I think was the name…. and infect their partner with it-"

"Oh that," Levy said dismissively. "It was Sting who told Jason that. Gajeel said it's all a lie that Sting made up to explain why he dated so many girls." Levy giggled. "Dragon slayer magic is to fight dragons, not to mate with them." Something clicked in her head. "What, did Natsu kiss you and now you think you have dragon cooties?"

Lucy wanted to melt through the floor in embarrassment. Dammit, Sting! Here all this time she'd been watching the dragon slayers, waiting to see them go "into season" or something. And it was a lie!

"Kind of..."

"Wait… so Natsu DID kiss you?"

"Not by choice," Lucy said grimly. "That dark mage…. He made us kiss." She shuddered at the memory of losing control of her body. "Ever since them I've felt… really strange."

"How so?"

"I'm… hot all the time." Lucy pulled the strap of her sleeveless top to vent her chest. "And I can't stop thinking about that kiss… and other things."

"Hmmm," Levy said thoughtfully. "Are you sure there's nothing else that happened?"

Lucy replayed the events in her head – how suddenly their fortunes had turned, how he had splashed her with that potion –

"Wait," she said, remembering. "He tossed some liquid on me and said it was a 'special present' for me. Could that liquid have given me an illness?"

Levy quirked her mouth off to one side. "If he really is a potions master, then it's entirely possible that the liquid he tossed on you was an aphrodisiac."

It was Lucy's turn to pale. "No," she said, burying her face into her folded arms.

"You said it yourself," Levy shrugged, but she patted Lucy's shoulder sympathetically. "You're hot and flushed and you can't stop thinking about making out with Natsu."

Lucy's head shot up. "I never said that it was making out!"

"But it's true, right?"

Lucy's only answer was a half-gurgle. Levy was being mean.

Levy leaned close to her and whispered. "I think the symptoms you're feeling are, um, arousal."

Lucy would not have picked that word, but that was probably the most accurate description of her situation. She was hot and bothered and really really turned on with no outlet for her frustration. "So in other words, it isn't Natsu who is 'in heat'… it's me. I'm the one with dragon cooties."

"Pretty much." Levy sat back down. "You could try asking Porlyusca for a cure –"

"No way in hell!"

"Or you could just wait a few days and see if it wears off."

Lucy shook her head vigorously. "I can't go around thinking this and feeling this for days!" Lucy wailed.

"Why not?"

"At this rate I'm going to jump Natsu's bones!"

"Oh come on, Lu-chan. Maybe this is just the push that Natsu needs." She winked at her best friend. "Dragon slayers may be dense idiots built for fighting, but they have a better sense of smell than anyone else. You're probably radiating pheromones right now and Natsu might react to that."

"That's it. I most definitely need to go into hiding for a few days." Lucy stood up, fanning herself off lightly. "If Natsu asks where I am, tell him I have the flu and he is absolutely not to come visit me at my apartment."

Lucy fled the guild, thankful that Natsu had not been around for that exchange.

Because the next time she saw him, if this stupid aphrodisiac didn't wear off, she was really going to pounce on him.

This is my response to all the "dragons in heat" fics out there. Now it's Lucy's turn to be in on the fun. Stay tuned for part two: Oranges!

Also, google "Know your meme now kiss" to get the scoop on the image that matches that scene. Hehehehehehehe.