No fear
Chapter four
Juvia was taking advantage of Natsu's makeshift training grounds. He had made training dummies out of wood and Juvia had to admit that he was talented when it came to carpentry. She wondered if he had gotten help from Laki. Still, she appreciated it being there and that meant that she had some good training time. She wasn't going to use her magic to destroy all of Natsu's hard work, but she was going to utilise it. She could already see the dents from where he had already used them.
She went through her basic water katas before her fists repeatedly made contact with the dummy. She pivoted on the balls of her left foot and lifted up her leg so that she smashed her right leg into the training dummy. She hadn't expected to destroy it so easily, but she put it down to Natsu having got to it first before she moved onto another dummy. Her nightmares were getting frequent, and she made sure she woke up before she would have to rely on Natsu waking up and coming to her aid. The voices in her head, letting her know she's not good enough for the guild, she's not strong enough to help Natsu and that she was just lucky that she had no fear otherwise it would be Lucy in her position instead, it was all getting to her and this was the only way she knew how to blow off steam before Succubus made her way to the surface.
She finally stopped and stepped back from the training dummy and stared at the work her hands and feet had done alone. It had been so long since she had done anything hand to hand and she remembered just how much she had enjoyed it. The second dummy was now done for and when she pushed it gently with her hand, it snapped in half, just like the first one. Her hair had loosened from her hairband as sweat dropped from her forehead. Her cheeks were a rosy red colour as she panted from her hard work. She fell into her favourite stance, one that she had learnt from Gajeel before she heard a low growl from behind her.
She glanced over her shoulder to see Natsu leaning against a tree as his fire-like gaze burned holes through her body. She straightened herself up at the sight of him, wondering what he was doing there, watching her. His eyebrows were knitted together, almost as if he were confused about something and Juvia placed a hand on her hip, almost as if to challenge him. She raised an eyebrow.
"What's wrong? Are you hungry?" She was still slightly out of breath, but she was fairing a lot better than just a few minutes ago. She couldn't keep her eyes off of him as he pushed himself off the tree and sauntered towards her. Every time he watched her like a predator watching its prey, she always held her breath. She didn't know why, but she just expected him to one day treat her as an enemy and not as his mate. She just couldn't understand why he would've chosen her for the temporary role.
He lowered his head for his usual nuzzle and Juvia unconsciously tilted her neck to the side, just so he could do it a little better. His hand slowly wrapped itself around her delicate wrist and he brought it up to his lips the moment he pulled away from her. He brought her hand up to eye level as he inspected it, licking away at the smallest of wounds that she hadn't even realised were there. She stood there mesmerised at how gentle he was being and it made her feel slightly giddy. Natsu wasn't someone who took his time with anything. He wasn't a gentle guy, but right now, he was and it was all for her. She had never seen Natsu as a prospect in her life before, but she was really considering him now. Since her feelings for Gray had fizzled, she never thought she would have the ability to love anyone else the way she had loved him. Natsu was making it hard to stick to her guns right now.
"That's his way of looking after his mate."
The flat tone of voice could only belong to one man, the man that she had just been thinking of. Natsu bristled as he turned around sharply and hid Juvia behind his back as he released a menacing growl. It was one that Juvia hadn't heard before and she had to say, he sounded alluring with just that one growl. Especially because he was pissed off and clearly jealous that Gray was nearby. She peered over at the said man over Natsu's shoulder.
"Was there something you needed, Gray? I mean, the others already came here with an update for Juvia and I gave them one back, so I don't think there's any need for you to be here." She stepped around Natsu as she walked towards the ice mage who just shook his head. She frowned slightly before shaking her head as she stopped walking. There was no need going to him and pissing Natsu off.
"Nah, I haven't really got anything other than a little theory I would like to test."
Juvia raised an eyebrow. "Okay, well let me know what it is and I can test it myself. Natsu doesn't really like having any other males in his territory and I feel like it's best we don't piss him off."
Gray smirked. "Nah, that's exactly what we need to do."
Without any warning, he had already unlocked his devil slayer magic and Juvia had almost forgotten just how fast he could move when using that form of his. She didn't quite understand just why he would be forced to move this fast and attack Natsu and before she could turn around to protect the dragon slayer from whatever little squabble they were about to have, Juvia's eyes widened when she felt a hand curl around her neck, fingers digging into the side of them and cutting off her oxygen supply. Her eyes widened in shock as he lifted her up from the ground. Her hand went to claw at his, but she forced herself to relax, knowing that Gray wasn't going to kill her.
"He might not kill me, but I might kill him first for doing this."
As quickly as Gray attacked her, she was soon on the ground, gasping for air and rubbing at her sore neck. She glanced up at the scene that was taking place right next to her fallen her body and she watched as Natsu had Gray in the same position that she had just been in. Natsu looked far from pleased as his crimson eyes had turned into dancing flames, anger pouring out of every pore. His dragon force magic spiked and Juvia's body instantly responded by bringing out water wires to try and calm him down.
"I'll rip you apart if I ever catch your filthy hands on my mate ever again, demon."
Juvia shuddered at the animalistic tone in Natsu's voice, but she definitely didn't hate it. She slowly stood up from where she was sitting and watched the two men silently battle it out. Gray had his hands on Natsu's, trying to rip it away from him just like she had done to him, but Natsu's grip just tightened. They both stared at each other and Juvia just knew that Gray was going to have to look away first. Natsu's will was just stronger and at this moment in time, Natsu's mate had been attacked. He wasn't going to let that slide.
Eventually, Gray's eye slid to the ground and Natsu instantly let go of him. Unlike Juvia, Gray managed to land on his feet. Juvia slid over to Natsu's side, placing her hand in the middle of his broad shoulders, forcing him to look at her. Not like he really needed that much convincing.
"Are you okay, Natsu?" Her voice was low as she watched his eyes flicker between red and his usual onyx eyes as he nodded slowly. She released a breath that she didn't realise she was holding as she noticed that sooner or later, he was going to come back to them. He turned his body towards her as his eyes raked over her form, as if to check that she's alright. His eyes lingered in places as he had to make sure that Gray didn't harm her in any way.
"I'm fine, mate," Natsu answered as the right side of his mouth curved upwards as if he were smirking. Juvia had to ignore just how good he looked as she turned towards Gray with irritation in her glare.
"You knew something like this was going to happen," she stated. She wasn't questioning him on it, she just knew it.
He just grunted with a shrug as he recalled his devil slayer magic. "Yeah, well when we all realised that he treats you like a mate, I knew it would mean that would cherish you and never let anything bad happen to you. When Erza told me that he's still not talking, I just knew I had to do something drastic and it had to involve you. No, Erza doesn't know about this and I would like to keep it that way. She's going to think I used it as an excuse to come and fight him," he groaned.
"Well, it's not a lie, is it? You definitely came here looking for a fight. Admit it, you miss him." Juvia was grinning. For now, this was going to be her own payback after what he just did to her. He spluttered in indignation as he shook his head.
"Who the hell would miss this idiot?! Anyway, I'm outta here. I've done my part in all this, now you finish it off."
With that, Gray turned on his heel and left the way he came, leaving the two of them together again. Juvia could only shake her head as she turned around to face the dummy. A strong arm wrapped itself around her and pulled her into them, her back colliding with a bare chest. His body instantly heated up her body as she remembered that she had water wires attached to him.
"Mate's trained enough for today. Let's go back in."
Natsu nuzzled his nose into her hair as Juvia chortled and shook her head as she felt herself relax and sink further into his embrace, despite the fact that she wanted to continue training.
"I still have a few things to do, Natsu. I need to do 100 sit ups and 100 squats before doing 100 push ups before I can stop," she replied. Natsu growled and spun her around. He was now heterochromatic, a sign that he was almost there, but not quite. He had one red eye and another black eye.
"Mate is tired, let's go in and rest."
"No, Natsu. Not yet. Just a little bit longer, please?"
She knew she should listen to him, especially as she had attached her water wires to him. It was funny. With everyday that passed, she could feel her magic reserve getting bigger and bigger to accommodate the fact that she was trying to cool Natsu down, but in the end, she would always get tired. With his magic flaring higher than it had ever done before, she could feel the fatigue setting in, but she didn't want to admit that to him. That devilish smirk showed up once more, as if he could read her mind and she scowled in response.
"Mate's tired, let's go to sleep. Have a nap."
"No, Natsu."
The warning tone in her voice fell on deaf ears as he stepped forwards towards her. Juvia jutted her chin out as she looked up at him, as if to ask him what the hell he's going to do about it and without any warning, he lifted her up by her hips and hoisted her onto his shoulder before turning around and making tracks for his house. Juvia made a noise of disbelief as she hit his shoulder blade.
"Put me down, Natsu!"
"No." And his tone was final. Juvia rolled her eyes at his behaviour. It was better when he didn't speak. She knew she could have turned into water to slip away from him, but a part of her really didn't want to and that part won. She went limp until he got to his room. While she had been inside of it, she definitely hadn't slept on his bed before. She had thought that he would put her on the sofa, but didn't say a word when he passed by and headed for his bedroom.
He dropped her onto his mattress where she bounced for a moment before he crawled on top of her and fell onto his side. He wrapped his arms around her voluptuous frame, tugging her in closer to him so that he could nuzzle his nose into her neck. Juvia sighed in exasperation. She couldn't believe just how much her body craved for this, even if she didn't want it. Ever since she had given up on Gray, she never would have thought she would have the opportunity to get close to someone in this manner, even if it was just for the time being. She didn't know how to fight him off when her mind was saying one thing, but her body was doing another.
She had to use everything in her body to fight back against the moan that was ready to burst through from her lips when she felt something wet slide against the column of her throat. He had licked her yet again and she was really growing fond of that action, weirdly (or not weirdly) enough.
"That demon bruised you."
She waved her hand. "It's okay, I'm fine. It will go away eventually," she muttered as she glanced down at him. She wasn't expecting to see such a saddened expression on his face and Juvia mentally cooed at the sight of it.
"But, mate is bruised," he whimpered, as if he couldn't believe that she got hurt on his watch. Juvia scooted her body down the mattress until they were face to face and she ran a hand through his hair which got a soft pur out of him.
"Natsu, I'm fine. Just look at me! You protected me well and I'm still here, lying in bed next to you and about to take a nap. You are a great mate, Natsu Dragneel, trust me."
He nodded slowly as if starting to accept it and Juvia grinned, happy that she had made him see something her way for once. She didn't know why she did it exactly, but she nuzzled his neck for the first time and that seemed to get a pretty good reaction from him as he practically jumped her as she laughed. He licked her bruise yet again before nuzzling her neck softly, keeping his arms wrapped tightly around her as Juvia's hand found his hair and ran her hands through it.
"Now, let's take a nap together, shall we?"
Natsu nodded in agreement as her water wires worked on keeping him cool, but the warmth from his body was still enough to make her eyes flicker before they stayed closed and she sighed softly, the darkness taking over yet again.