No Fear
Chapter three
Juvia was absolutely drained. Having to constantly pump water through Natsu's body to keep him cool was taking a toll on her, but she wasn't going to stop. As long as her water was coming back to her, she had convinced herself that it isn't too bad. Natsu was also very clingy. He would growl whenever she got up to go and make some food or anything else. Wendy and Erza had cashed in on the promise of buying some groceries for the pair of them. They bought more than enough.
Juvia knew they were watching Natsu's every movement as he kept his arms around her waist and he gave them warning glares from over her shoulder. She had snorted at some point, wondering how it had come down to this. How had she ended up as the one that Natsu wanted to be around 24/7? He hadn't even glanced at Lucy once, only when he got annoyed that she was stealing Juvia's attention away from him.
"Natsu-san, what would you like to eat?"
She didn't know exactly why she was hoping that he would actually say words, but she wasn't annoyed when he just growled his response. She hummed in understanding. She had long not cared that she could understand what he's saying. This whole situation didn't make sense, so why would she make sense of the fact that she could tell what he was saying when he was just growling at her?
"Hmm, something spicy...Juvia can do that."
He nuzzled his nose into her neck with a pleased purr and Juvia found herself giggling. She reached up to ruffle his hair before she used her other hand to double tap his hands that were folded at her waist. He whined when he realised what she wanted, but otherwise did as he was asked. Juvia smiled and patted his head which made him grin at her. She noted that his teeth were still extremely sharp, but that couldn't be helped.
She got to cooking something that the both of them would enjoy and Natsu hung around, watching her. His gaze set her body alight and she wondered if her body could ever reach the same temperature as his or if she would evaporate long before she got there. A normal person would have combusted by now, but Natsu was far from normal, if his current state of mind was anything to go by.
She plated their food and while he was still standing next to her, she decided to hand him his share. "Here you go, you can take this one. Just let me know if you want more, okay? There's loads more in the pot."
He took his food from her and then curled his fingers on his other hand around her free wrist and gently tugged her towards his dining table. Another thing Lucy or Lisanna must have forced him to buy, because did this guy actually cook in his house? Juvia remembered him saying once that he just makes a fire outside and uses his magic to cook it.
"That had been the best turkey shank that I'd ever had in my life when he brought it in for us to try that day in the guild. I wonder if he'll make anything like that again if I ask him to."
Natsu released her wrist and pulled out a seat for her to sit down and Juvia blinked in surprise as she then glanced up at him. His red eyes flashed at her before he grunted and moved his head, as if telling her to sit down. She placed her plate down on the mat and she smiled a little bit. Was Natsu being some sort of gentleman in this state? To think that male animals acted nicer than their human counterparts, it was truly laughable.
When she was seated, Natsu sat down next to her, his leg brushing her thigh as they ate together. Although they were eating in silence, Juvia couldn't help but enjoy having another person around her. Just like she thought, he ate like an animal, but it was eerily similar to the way he ate anyway and that made her feel familiar with something. Her mind was all over the place as she ate her food.
"How long is he going to stay like this for? Do we need to get the person who hit him with the dark magic to reverse its effects and if so, how do we go about finding them? Are they behind bars or did they escape? I'll have to ask a member of his team about that. Or is this just now a waiting game and we just see how far it goes? Can the dragon seed's effects be removed by us or maybe Warren has to do something mentally? Do I have to basically help Natsu build up rapport with our guildmates again or something? Am I the bridge because I'm the only one he likes so far? What if everyone's wrong and I'm not the best for this? I saw the look in Erza and Lucy's eyes, they were disappointed that it couldn't at least be them to bring him out of this. Even Gray looked like he thought he would be a better candidate than me. They're not wrong, why would I have the power to-"
She was immediately brought out of her thoughts when she felt something flat and wet touch the side of her face. Her eyes widened as she turned to face him and saw Natsu's face up close to hers as she stared at him with unbridled shock. His tongue flickered back into his mouth as Juvia huffed with confusion.
"D-did you just lick me?! Natsu, we're eating! You probably got sauce all over my cheek!"
As she went to wipe her face off with some tissue, she saw Natsu lift a glass of water to his lips, sip it before he quickly licked her again. She relaxed when she realised that he had clearly drank some water to wash off his tongue and she just shook her head while smiling fondly at him. Even in this form, he's still some playful idiot, huh? Glad to know that he hadn't changed fundamentally at the very least.
He must've been worried about her being stuck in her own thoughts and she realised that it was definitely something that kept getting out of hand. She was always wrapped up in her own head and the silence and loneliness made it worse. It's why she always found herself doing some sort of job. She needed action to fill the silence that she made for herself, drown out the voices that were in her head telling her that she's not good enough to be in the guild.
She was spiralling again, because soon she felt Natsu tongue glide across her neck, upwards from her clavicle to her ear. She gasped softly as her eyes rolled back a little from the pleasure he also seemed to give her. His lick was slow and deliberate, as if annoyed that she wasn't paying him any mind. Or not communicating what was wrong with her.
"Okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm completely fine."
Natsu bit her earlobe slightly and she saw his crimson eye glaring at her from out of her peripherals. He didn't believe her. He was dragon-like, not stupid. If anything, that probably meant that he was more in tune with any of her moods. How annoying, she wasn't going to be able to hide things from him, just like she couldn't hide her troubles from him that one time on the balcony.
"I wonder if he ever remembers that day."
Finishing her food and washing it all down with a glass of water, she turned to face the mage sitting next to her and without any hesitation, she licked him back. She giggled slightly when she realised that she had caught him off guard with the lick, but a grin broke out on his face and she couldn't help but admit just how attractive he really looked. Her heart thumped in her chest as she remembered the little pleasure she felt when Natsu had licked her and pushed it all to the back of her mind. That's not what she's here for.
Natsu then grabbed up their plates and headed for the sink where Juvia was surprised to see him washing up. "Wait, Natsu! You don't have to do that, I can-"
He glanced at her from over his shoulder and grunted. She sat back down and nodded in understanding. She had cooked, so he will wash up. She wondered if this was the sort of person he really was behind closed doors, because that is the last thing she would've expected him to do after eating. Lucy was always complaining about how much of a slob he and Happy are and how they don't tidy up. Why was he tidying up now?
She sat and watched him clean up and when he finished, his eyes fell on her, as if to ogle her. It was late outside and it was clearly night time. It was so weird that she was sleeping so well around Natsu, a little too well in fact. She went from being an insomniac to having gotten the best sleep she had ever received in the last 24 hours alone.
When Natsu got everything dried, he walked over to her and held his hand out for her to hold. She tilted her head, questioning what he was doing, but ultimately placed her hand in his and let him pull her up. She soon realised what he was doing and slipped her hand away from him and she shook her head with a smirk on her face. Natsu could only growl at her in annoyance.
"Nuh uh, Natsu. You can go to bed, I'm staying on your couch, okay? I'll have this water wire attached to you the entire time so that you can feel a little relief, okay? But I'm sorry, we can't be this close to each other like this, alright? Go on, do you want me to tuck you in?"
Natsu snarled at her as she burst out laughing as she gently pushed him towards his own room. "Go on, I know you're tired. I'll be here, I'm not leaving. Okay?"
He stared at her as if she was going to change her mind and she just crossed her arms over her chest. He whimpered as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pushed his face into the crook of her neck as if trying to make her crack. She almost did when she felt how close he was to her sweet spot on her neck and she had to stand there unshakeable. When he realised that she wasn't budging, he pulled away from her and went straight to his room, almost as if he were upset. Juvia snickered and shook her head as she went through to use his guest bathroom. Natsu was too cute like this.
How long had it been since she started and practically failed this job? It was all due to her exhaustion. She still hadn't found out where her limit was for doing jobs back to back before her body would just give up on her. It would seem like 4 is the sweet spot, 5 depending on how hard her 4th job was and 6 is where she's going to get herself killed, like right now.
Her water body was no longer in question, her phone was dead and probably cracked somewhere while she felt hands wander over her body. She wanted to vomit violently at the stench around her as she lay on top of the medical table.
"This water body of yours, it's so interesting! I need to know more! Just because you're a water mage, doesn't mean that you should have such powers over water like this. And your ability to make it rain is astounding. I've been wanting to rip into your ethernano for a very long time, Juvia of the deep. You're an enigma to scientists like me."
She had been gagged so that she couldn't make any noise, but it would've all been pointless anyway. There was no one around to help her. Everyone in the facility was in on it and no one of them would care about her screams. Instead, the tears wouldn't stop rolling down from her eyes as she just sobbed quietly. The bastards didn't even think to give her anything to not make it hurt. She felt every single stab, every prick.
"I'm very disappointed in you. I thought you were the famed water mage that no one can stop talking about. Ame onna, isn't that what they call you? How were you so easy to capture, to break like this? No matter, I'm about to find out the secrets of your magic, even if I have to break you limb from limb."
That was the first time she found out something sinister about herself. That succubus form that Vidaldus had turned her into that one time hadn't gone away. She lay dormant in the back of her mind as she was waiting for a time to pounce. This was that time. As Juvia lay there helpless and exhausted, Succubus burst through. The rain started pouring down, pelting through the windows like bullets being sprayed by a maniac. Everyone yelled as they ducked for cover and Juvia had never felt more alive.
She spat out the gag, broke the chains with a strength of a 1000 men and danced around the area. Her clothes had changed, her eyes dilated as adrenaline pumped through her body. She felt jittery and she was about to put this power to good use.
"Hell, hell HELL! You fucking pricks thought you could get ME?! Oh I'm gonna show ya, I'll show you all!"
Juvia felt something warm behind her and something heavy on her hip as she pulled out of that nightmare. Her heavy eyes squinted at the morning light and when she turned her head, she was met with pink hair and red eyes. Natsu was right behind her as he shielded her from something. She realised that her water wire had dissipated and Natsu was running hot yet again. She wordlessly attached a wire to him as his grip tightened around her waist, as if to tell her to not worry about him. Not like she was going to listen to him anyway, she needed him to cool down. Still, his heat was soothing and lulling her back to sleep as she closed her eyes until she heard,
"They're getting even closer than before."
Juvia groaned when she heard voices. She thought they were no longer going to bother them and that would've been the case if they were at her place. She would have triple locked the door to make sure no one can come in. They also knew how much she loved privacy, so no one would have tried. It all flew out of the window when she was in Natsu's home, clearly.
"Why are you guys lying down together on the sofa?"
Juvia sighed as she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Judging by how tired she is, she didn't manage to get that much sleep before the images had been burnt away by Natsu's presence.
"I have no idea. I sent him off to his room last night and then I woke up to him here and to you guys here as well."
Wendy was the only one who looked sheepish, as if they had been intruding. In fact, they are. Wendy knows that Natsu's in some sort of dragon form and right now, he's more of a dragon than a human. Judging by the glare he's giving them, he's really not appreciating their disturbance.
"Is he looking at Wendy with disappointment right now?"
"What happened for him to stay with you?"
Juvia sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is that I was having a night-"
She didn't continue speaking, but the other women seemed to understand what she meant, even though she had never mentioned it to them. She sat back, inhaling in annoyance at the fact that she had given herself away.
"Well, seeing as he sees you as his mate, he can also sense any distress with you. Close proximity works wonders. Bad dreams, injuries, emotional distress, things like that are all best dealt with close to your mate."
As if to prove her point, Natsu squeezed her waist and nuzzled his face into the side of her neck as he kept a watchful eye on the three females that had entered his territory. He clearly deemed them as safe because they were females and Natsu couldn't smell any malice on them, but he still wanted to be careful.
Juvia on the other hand had a hard time concentrating. She felt his nose bump against her neck and she couldn't help but crack a smile. She had a hand on his hand that was lying on her waist as she stared up at the others.
Erza smirked as she stared at how comfortable the two of them were behaving. It had been a long time since she last saw Juvia in a state of peace. "You seem to be enjoying the attention."
Juvia shrugged. "It's not the worst feeling in the world and if it will help Natsu come back to us quicker, I'll entertain it. He's not hurting anyone."
Natsu growled and Juvia rolled her eyes as she hushed him. Wendy also understood what he was saying, although she didn't quite understand how.
"We're just checking up on you, Natsu-nii. Master Makarov wanted to see how you're progressing. We'll be out of here soon. I think he has a few jobs that he really wants to give you."
"Don't listen to him, he's just being grumpy. Anyway, let Master know that there isn't really much to report right now. He's still pretty much the same as when I first came to him."
The girls nodded as they started to leave the house, whispering about how close the two of them looked. Juvia felt her cheeks glow at their attention, but otherwise didn't say anything to them. Natsu licked her again as she shivered and burst out laughing.
"Okay, I hear you. Let's get freshened up and I'll start on breakfast, okay?"
She received a bite to her earlobe as an answer.
So, how was that? I hope you liked it! As you can see, I just LOVE the use of Succubus. I think Juvia would have done well to keep it!
Let me know what you guys thought of this chaper.
Lolita-chan