Sky and Sun

"Sky Dragon's Roar!"

Natsu stood firm against the sky blue tornado that blasted towards him like a bullet, blocking it with both palms, before ripping it apart with ease, leaving Wendy stood at the opposite end of the field slightly upset.

"Natsu-san! I'm told you I'm no good at this!" she whined slightly, looking downcast.

Natsu simply looked back at her blankly, causing her to fidget slightly. "You might not be the best, or even like fighting, but you still have to learn how to defend yourself Wendy." He replied after a moment.

"You know magic like yours is well sought after, and I want you to be able to keep safe." Natsu sighed.

"So again!" he barked, causing Wendy to jump slightly.

"Ok Natsu-san…" she capitulated with a sigh, before drawing in a deep breath, stance firm.

"Sky Dragon's Roar!"

But yet again, Natsu simply batted it away with ease, this time with one hand, causing Wendy to drop to her knees in unhappiness. "Why am I so weak?" she murmured tearfully, though Natsu's sharp hearing picked it up easily, causing him to bark out an unexpected peal of uncaring laughter for a scant moment, catching her by surprise as her eyes widened at the way Natsu was acting all of a sudden.

"Ha!" he scoffed slightly. "You think you're weak?" he questioned her rhetorically, causing her to look at him in slight confusion. "To tell you the truth, that last roar was A-Class power Wendy. You're not weak at all."

"But you didn't even try!" Wendy exclaimed at his words.

"I'm an S-Class mage Wendy…" he sighed slightly, scratching his head for a second remembering what he used to do with Gildarts. "You shouldn't be disheartened by that, it's just that I have far more experience and strength."

"Did you honestly hope that you'd actually manage something against me? Besides, you're holding back anyway." He added with a sigh.

"No… and what do you mean holding back?" Wendy blinked at him.

"You don't want to hurt me really, so you're not putting the full effort in." Natsu began before cutting off her meek protest with a waved hand. "Just make sure you don't hold back when it's something or someone trying to harm you."

"Or I'll personally drill the lesson into your head." He added almost threateningly, causing Wendy to shiver as a chill ran down her spine.

"H-Hai Natsu-sama!" she replied with a slight quiver in her voice. She didn't like it when he did that, though she realised it was in her best interests. Fortunately she didn't notice the sudden flinch that Natsu had towards her words.

Swallowing slightly, he steeled himself after a moment, before speaking quietly. "Don't call me that. Or sensei either."

The words reached Wendy's ear like a firm command, despite being so softly spoken. "I'm your friend, so don't call me that please." He added after a moment, seeing the slight confusion on her face. No one gets to call me that anymore.

'You need to get over it.' The voice remarked to him softly. 'You can't just run away from what you were.'

'And why not? I refuse to be called so.' He retorted with slight heat.

'Just because it hurts Natsu-san?' she responded sadly. 'It was a long time ago.'

'Time has no meaning in those regards.' He fired back. 'Those words remain forever tainted.'

'They're a sign of respect.' She replied smoothly. 'Wash away the old meaning. Besides, she wanted to treat you as her sensei, particularly as you're teaching her. Make new memories of the name, and the past becomes inconsequential.'

'It won't, but…' Natsu trailed off slightly as he looked at Wendy's small frown, before she spoke up.

"You're teaching me. It would be poor manners of me not to refer to you as Natsu-sama, Natsu-sama!" she looked at him firmly, stubbornly trying to tell him she wouldn't change her mind.

'I guess she's made the decision for you!' the voice laughed lightly.

"But…" Natsu began with a frown, before Wendy interrupted, surprising Natsu once more.

"I'm not changing my mind, so get used to it!" she exclaimed. "You're teaching me, so I'm calling you teacher. Outside of that… I'll just call you N-N-Natsu-san…?" she trailed off slightly nervously, having just realised her mouth had ran away from her slightly, and Natsu was looking at her rather strangely.

Instead of knocking her explanation down like she felt he would do, he instead shook his head wryly, before replying. "As you wish Wendy-chan." He teased her slightly, causing her cheeks to colour.

"Now." He began firmly, causing Wendy to calm down and focus once more. "Lets try some hand to hand." He added, eyes glinting slightly, and causing her to look at him slightly nervously.

"W-We don't have to, do we Natsu-san? I mean Natsu-sama!" she squeaked slightly as his eyes narrowed slightly.

"I'm afraid so." He replied mock-sadly. "Best to get it over with, Wendy-chan." He added, causing her to squeak as her nervous smile dropped abruptly to portray dismay.

/

"Ugh!" a heavily breathing Wendy exclaimed, uncharacteristically miffed. "Why did I open my mouth!?"

"Wendy?" Carla looked at her, as she was flopped out on the floor, arms held out to either side. "What on earth have you been doing!?" she exclaimed, blinking at the extremely tired girl.

"Training." She replied, before shuddering slightly. "Just training!" she squeaked again, but only succeeding in making Carla frown at her.

"Training." She replied blankly. "And just what kind of training has put you on the floor, unable to get up?" she added, looking ever so slightly annoyed, before jumping a foot in the air in fright as a voice spoke behind her.

"Combat training." Natsu spoke smoothly, astutely ignoring the white cat's extreme reaction, though it gave him a small thrum of satisfaction. "She did well." He added, as soon as Carla had calmed down slightly.

"Did I?" Wendy smiled slightly, though she still seemed unable to get herself up.

"Yes." Natsu responded simply. "You'll be fine, should you ever need to protect yourself… and Carla of course." He added after a moment's thought.

Carla could only shiver slightly, hoping that he didn't mean he'd trained Wendy so she could use it on her, and trying to think of the bright side, being that Wendy would assume he'd meant to protect her too.

"Come on, up you get." He began talking again, as he picked Wendy up off the floor, carrying her on his back, as she wrapped her arms around his neck slightly, Natsu hooking his arms under her legs. "Where to?" he added after a moment.

"Take her to the bathroom Natsu-san." Carla cut in slightly, while Wendy thought for a moment. "I'll draw her a nice hot bath. Good for soothing sore muscles."

"Good idea." Natsu nodded, looking at her for a brief moment, as Wendy made a soft noise of acceptance, already dreaming of a nice relaxing bath.

A few moments later, Natsu had set Wendy down on a chair outside the bathroom, listening to the running water and watching the spiralling trails of steam rising.

"I'll be around for a few more days Wendy." He spoke up after a minute, causing Wendy to jerk slightly as she was nodding off.

"Just a few days?" she replied slightly confused. "I thought you were staying?"

"Oh, I am staying." Natsu confirmed. "I just have a ticket to stay at Akane Resort. A small vacation will do me good."

"Oh!" Wendy exclaimed. "How long?"

"Ah just a week." Natsu replied smoothly. "Two weeks, counting the journey there and back."

"I'll miss you then." Wendy frowned minutely.

"Not for too long though." Natsu responded gently. "I do have a few things to do on the side, so it might stretch to three or four weeks."

"Four weeks! It was only one to start with!" Wendy exclaimed in shock. "What kind of things Natsu-san?" she asked him curiously, before it was stifled immediately, by Natsu's disapproving look.

"Ask no questions, and I shall tell you no lies." He replied, voice tightly controlled in its lack of emotion.

Wendy could only look at him dumbfounded. "You could have just said it was private Natsu-san."

"Bath's ready!" Carla's voice rang out from the bathroom.

"Coming Carla!" Wendy called back, before allowing Natsu to help pull her to her feet.

"Will you tell me what you get up to on your own at some point?" Wendy looked at him beseechingly as he held her hands gently.

Natsu seemed to become lost in thought after a moment, though Wendy seemed to think his body language showed a slight hint of panic, followed by apprehension, before it became his normal self, though that was a slightly melancholy stance. She could tell, having been taught healing magic, to read things from how the body reacted, and she knew that Natsu knew that, but seemed to have forgotten to hide it at the current moment.

Just before she decided to tell him to forget about it, he responded quietly. "Eventually."

"Ok Natsu-san." She replied with a slightly surprised smile. "See you later!" she added, as she wearily dragged herself into the bathroom, shutting the bamboo screen door behind her.

Natsu shook his head slightly, having only just realised he'd just agreed that he would eventually tell Wendy about his private adventures, something he'd never considered with anyone from Fairy Tail. This both surprised and repulsed him slightly, having realised that he'd almost summarily cut off his old friends from his life.

The only thing he couldn't understand, was why that was the case. Maybe it was because children weren't as judgemental? He could only hope so.

/

"Sky Dragon's Claw!" Wendy exclaimed, as she swept her leg down on a slightly crouched Natsu. He simply broke apart the blast of wind with his hands, before grabbing her ankle firmly by standing up from the crouched stance, causing her to yelp in surprise, as he swung her in the opposite direction, but not pressing his attack.

"Leaving your foot out too long will get you caught." He stated simply, as Wendy landed smoothly on her feet, showing that she was capable of maintaining good balance when necessary. "Come at me again."

"Arms x Vernier!" she called out as a light cyan glow erupted from her entire body showing the effect had taken place. She smiled slightly, before she dashed towards Natsu, speed enhanced to even greater levels, seemingly a blur to the normal eye, though Natsu could follow her like she was travelling in slow motion still. "Sky Dragon's Crushing Fang!" she exclaimed as she slipped into melee range, Natsu looking at her with faint anticipation. Two trailing blue bursts of magic erupted from her two hooked fingers as the rest were held in a partial fist, before she swept them sideways, aiming to strike his ribs with the enhanced power of the Arms spell.

However her triumphant look was quickly wiped off her face, as Natsu leaned back ever so slightly, her clawed fingers missing by a hair, but it quickly became determined, as she followed through, with her left leg coming round like a roundhouse kick. "Sky Dragon's Claw!" she yelled loudly, realising she would force Natsu to block this one, and aiming to put all the power she could spare into it. Her leg quickly swept around, causing Natsu to lean slightly towards it, holding out his left forearm, aiming to block with the side of his arm. The clash when her left heel struck his arm threw up a blast of air and the fleshy sound of impact, rustling his pink air slightly, but still unable to penetrate his guard. Far from being the end of it though, she swallowed a deep breath of air as her head twisted slightly in his direction, aiming for his centre mass.

"Sky Dragon's Roar!"

A strongly concentrated blue tornado blasted out of her mouth with shrieking force, causing Natsu to sweep his right arm up, leaning his head back and to the left slightly, flowing with the movement, and dissipating the blast, but not before he was forced to step back on his right leg to maintain balance, surprising him slightly at her resourcefulness. Her left heel now came free of his blocking arm, as both her hands touched the dirt, poised for a blow. Natsu's eyes widened slightly, as she called out an attack he had not seen her use before. "Sky Dragon's Tail Whip!" she grinned happily, as both her legs touched together, before she pushed off with her arms, a tornado forming around her legs, before launching towards his off-balance posture like a sinuous strike of a whip. This time, Natsu hastily put his left leg forwards slightly, planting his foot in the ground, and his right knee hit the deck. As the blow came down, both his arms crossed over his head firmly, negating the strike completely as her feet pushed off his arms, her own arms suddenly swinging down in triumph. "Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!"

A torrential blast of wind crashed down into Natsu's guarding arms, who's only option was to push up with his legs, before he sighed slightly, as both his arms snapped out as the attack petered out, pinning Wendy's in his grasp. Wendy grumbled at this in disappointment, before yelping again, as he swung her backwards over his head, taking obligatory pity on her and deciding not to just slam her into the ground.

"Very good." Were the only words he could say at the exchange that had just taken place, as Wendy landed, breathing slightly heavily. "Better endurance, and great use of magic. You took control of the situation well."

"Still not good enough." Wendy grumbled slightly as she sat down, looking up at the cloudy blue sky.

"Eh, you'll pull one off on me eventually." Natsu shrugged. "Not for a long while though, I hope." He added with a frown.

"One would think you don't want me to succeed Natsu-sama." Wendy grumbled.

"With my experience, I'd be worried if you did so soon." Natsu responded. "I'm still rusty, considering you managed to surprise me though."

"That said, you'll be a match for quite a few people I know." Natsu added placatingly. "If not in power, you'll probably outmanoeuvre a lot of them. Your power will only increase anyway."

Wendy flushed slightly in pride at the comparison he made, knowing that Natsu knew quite a few powerful mages.

"Besides, this is all good to improve your stamina for healing techniques too." Natsu nodded slightly, as Wendy let out a slight 'Oh!' of realisation.

"This wasn't just about training me to defend myself then Natsu-sama?" she asked curiously.

"Of course not. Training like this will improve your durability and endurance in all areas. Training magic is like building up a muscle in a way, and I know you can understand that." He replied smoothly.

At this, Wendy grinned happily. "I was never able to train my healing directly, but this means I can improve it even if I have nobody to practice on! That's great Natsu-sama!" She then wrapped her arms around Natsu in a slight hug. "I'll do my best while you're gone!" she added with determination.

"I expect nothing less." He stated simply. "Now, I suppose it's time for me to get ready."

At this Wendy sighed slightly sadly. "I'll miss you Natsu-san."

"Ah, I'll be back in no time." He replied, before a small chill of foreboding ran down his spine.

'Tempting fate again?' the voice asked gently.

'Dammit.' He groaned slightly. 'I hope not.'

/

"I see…" Natsu stared blankly at the odd blocky shape of the man in front of him. "You do realise I came here by myself and not part of that Fairy Tail group you're mentioning right?" he asked slowly, secretly wondering whether the man was an idiot or something.

"In fact, I haven't even seen them." He added, while Wally was looking at him slightly dumbfounded. "So why are you trying to eliminate me?" Natsu added, eyes darkening slightly.

"Come to think of it, why am I even talking to you?" Natsu added rhetorically. "Goodnight." he added flatly, as he slammed a brutal fist down on his head, smashing him into the floor like a sack of bricks. The odd man had been far too slow thinking to even faze Natsu, and was not going to wake up for a good day or two, he was certain of that. The man wasn't even quick enough to recognise Natsu's blur of motion, as it seemed like he hadn't moved when seen by the normal eye.

He was about to rise once more, before sudden darkness flooded the room he was, causing him to pause momentarily, before shaking his head. He knew where everything in this room was, every sight and scent, so he was far from blind, but he knew that wasn't entirely meant for him. He scowled slightly, realising that fate had taken him up on his offer, and was ruining his vacation. Blasted woman.

/

"Where did this darkness come from!?" Lucy exclaimed blindly as Happy gripped onto her shoulders.

"I don't know Lucy." Erza replied as calmly as she could, given that she had just seen a face out of her long buried away memories. "Sho…" she murmured in slight shock as her fists clenched slightly.

The darkness soon faded away, revealing an empty casino, much to Erza and Lucy's shock. However their attention was quickly drawn away from the young man called Sho in front of them, to the frantic cries for help that appeared to be coming from the floor. Looking down, they both saw a pile of cards which appeared to hold all the people in the casino prisoner. Many faces seemed to be staring back at them in horror, while others appeared to be banging on an invisible wall, as if to try and escape their prison.

"What do you think sis?" Sho remarked, failing to hide his enjoyment as he held up a card containing a person in front of him. "Good huh?"

"Y-You can use magic?" Erza replied dumbly, stepping back slightly in shock, as Lucy looked on worriedly.

"Sure can sis!" Sho exclaimed happily, as he nodded.

"We have been taught the ways of magic, meow!" a new voice chimed in happily, as a sudden pink rope wrapped around Lucy, pinning her arms to the side. It appeared to be almost rubber-like, and Lucy felt the slight disconnection of her magic, causing her to gasp.

"Lucy!" Erza exclaimed at her friend's predicament.

"Been a while Erzy!" the voice chimed in again, as a girl dropped down in front of them. She had an almost cat like appearance, with red-striped whiskers on her cheek, and brown hair, slightly peaking up in a vague impression of cat ears.

"Milliana?" Erza asked, eyes widening even more in her surprise, as her heart hammered in her chest. She couldn't believe it.

"It's me!" she replied happily, holding out her fingers in a mock 'v' sign.

"Why are you attacking my friend?" Erza asked after a moment of frantic thought.

"I thought we were your friends Erza." Sho remarked calmly, still smiling all the while. "Then again, we know what you do to your friends don't we?" he added as he looked at her grimly.

"You betray them after all." Sho added darkly. "You left us to die."

"I-I…" Erza began in horror, before she was interrupted by a magic seal appearing out of thin air, to reveal a tall man, with a metal chin guard, almost resembling an additional jaw-bone. "Simon?" she asked shakily to the man in front of her.

"Come with us. I do not wish to take you by force." The man replied instead, shocking Erza.

"Where?" Erza asked slightly firmly, despite her warring thoughts.

"The Tower of Heaven!" Sho exclaimed, causing Erza to freeze, as she struggled to even move her mouth.

"Once Wally arrives," Simon said as he stepped forwards. "We will return to the tower, and to Jellal."

"Jellal!?" Erza blurted out in horror as she dropped to her knees weakly.

"Jellal?" a voice remarked out of the blue. As everyone turned to look in the direction it had come from, their eyes alighted upon the seemingly nonchalant form of Natsu, reclining in a leather chair with his feet resting on a roulette table. "Well, can't keep the man waiting can we?" he added after a moment, blank brown eyes resting their gaze on each person in turn, astutely avoiding Erza, Lucy and Happy's for the time being.

"Who are you?" Simon decided to speak up after a stunned moment, taking note of the absolutely horrified look on Erza's face, somehow even more fearful than when she had seen three of her old friends. Even the blonde girl appeared to shudder slightly, and the man hadn't even glanced at them yet. In the back of his mind, something made him feel ever so slightly fearful as well, as his eyes flitted around for a moment, realising that Wally had yet to return.

"That question… has many answers." Natsu replied blandly, mouth twisting into a slightly irritated scowl. "But that's not something I care about. Just tell me… why you felt the need to annoy me?" he added, eyes flashing slightly as everyone else shivered at the frigid voice he had used.

"You're one of 'her' comrades." Sho spat out after a moment, obviously referring to Erza by the tone of his voice.

"Once." Natsu replied flatly, as he turned his head to look directly at her as she quivered slightly. "It appears you have made a grave mistake." He added coolly as he looked the man in the eye, causing him to step back minutely. Something just wasn't adding up in Sho's mind.

"W-Where's Wally, nyah?" Milliana piped up nervously, whiskers seeming to twitch as she spoke.

"Block-head?" Natsu remarked almost casually, causing Erza and Lucy to flinch. Considering Natsu seemed to know the man, things must have turned out rather poorly for him.

At this, Natsu seemed to grin almost cruelly, but it was so abruptly switched back into a blank look, none there could be sure they had seen the gleaming toothy grin at all. Just a trick of the light, that was all…

"Enough of this." Simon spoke up, having finally had enough of the completely out of control situation. "We came for Erza only."

"So… you're saying you irritated me for no real reason?" Natsu suddenly questioned him intensely.

Not waiting for an answer, he simply stood up and continued as he stepped slowly towards the group. "I've rather had enough of irritating little pests." He hissed slightly as the temperature rose to sweltering levels. "Usually, nothing really gets under my skin, unless it's something pretty bad."

"But I've had enough of just about everything." He added smoothly as he clenched his fists. "And you three are first on my list of nuisances that need removing."

"Natsu!" Erza shouted in shock as his hands burst into blinding flames, himself switching into a battle-stance, and taking them all aback with his completely left-field persona change. Lucy yelped slightly as she recognised the angered look on his face, and the three other mages stumbled back for a moment, preparing to fend him off.

Natsu cocked his head at her for a moment, before shrugging slightly. "I'm not gonna kill them." He tried to assuage her worries for the time being.

"J-Just hurt them?" Lucy shivered slightly, remembering what he had done to Gajeel, and being very unsure she would want anyone else on the end of such a beating.

"Ah, just a little." Natsu shrugged again, ignoring the dumbfounded and increasingly worried looks on the three mages faces. "Oh sorry to keep you waiting." Natsu spoke smoothly as his eyes narrowed at them.

He cocked his head back as he took a deep breath, confusing them slightly, before fire pooled in his maw.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

AN 04.10.2014

Yeah, long time no see. I cut this shorter than intended, because there's several fights that would probably push this to way more words than necessary. Natsu is less worried about fighting/using his magic. Wendy gets some training in, etc etc.

More next time. Sorry it's so short considering how long it's been, but I've been ever so busy, and haven't quite had the motivation recently. Shorter wait for the next one, just a week or two since it's mostly action scenes. I usually have more to say here, but it shows how much I've recently been distracted by. Oh well.

Keep the faith!