Fire and Feathers

Natsu X Gray

A/N: The image above is what inspired this story. It also gives you a good idea of what the dragons look like. Fairy Tail does not belong to me, only the character Red. Rain belongs to therainydaylove.

Today had been a long day. My back was sore, my arms were sore; basically everything hurt like hell. I guess that's the price I pay for training to be a Dragon Rider. All well, at least now I got to go home to my dragon. Poor Natsu, he was probably worried sick. Most dragons hated it when their rider leaves for a while, but Natsu always went to the extreme.

"Natsu! I'm home!" I called through the cave. Our home was inside of a mountain, in a massive cave system that all dragon riders of the Fairy Tail region shared. I frowned when my dragon didn't immediately come to my call.

Maybe he took a nap? I wondered, making my way over to the bedroom. Cautiously, I placed my ear on the side of the wooden door, trying to listen for my dragon's telltale snoring. Instead of snoring, I heard a low, husky growl. A sound that made me subconsciously shake.

"Natsu? I'm coming in." I announced, started to get worried. If he was awake, why hadn't he come when called? And why was he growling? Did something happen when I was gone?

Thousands of different possibilities swam through my head as I slowly opened up the squeaky door. None of them could prepare me for what I saw on the other side. My room was completely trashed. All of the pictures on the wall had been thrown to the ground, my bed looked like it had been torn apart by a wild animal, and Natsu's hoard was strew everywhere. Gold and precious gems were dotted here and there, so I had to be careful where I stepped.

"Natsu?" I called, at first not seeing my dragon anywhere. Didn't help that the room was really dark. Uttering a spell, a ball of light formed in my hand, illuminating the room. Still, I didn't see anything, until I noticed a large lump in the middle of my bed, perfectly still. Wondering what was wrong, I quietly approached.

"Natsu? What's wrong?" I whispered, not wanting to startle him. For a moment, he still didn't move, his eyes closed and his chest falling in perfect rhythm. Then, he at last opened up his eyes, one orange and one green looking up at me.

"Hot..." He gasped, a puff of steam billowing into my face. My face twisted into a look of concern. Natsu was a fire dragon, so heat of any kind usually didn't both him.

"You're hot? Do you want me to get you some water?" I asked. To my surprise, Natsu shook his head.

"No. Stay. Want..." His voice drifted off.

"What do you want?" I asked. Natsu looked up at me, his oddly human face looking up at me innocently.

"You." He growled, his formerly innocent look vanished into a look of need. He launched himself from the bed, pinning me to the ground, where I really got a good look at my partner.

Real dragons don't look like the dragon in most mythologies. Those dragons are corrupted. Real dragon have scales of any color, human like faces, fur that replaces hair, large horns, wings, a long muscular tail, a gem in the middle of their forehead known as a MindStone (it helps them with telepathy and mind based magic) fully functional hands and feet, enabling them to walk on all fours and on two. Natsu was a rare royal fire dragon, a descendant of the first. He had bright red scales, a cream colored   underbelly, black claws on his hands and feet, large wings with a flame pattern, bright pink spiky hair and large black horns that twisted inwards. His MindStone was the color of magma, and I now noticed it was glowing brightly, flickering every now and then.

"Natsu! What're you doing?!" I cried out, confused. Natsu didn't say anything, only began to rub his face on my chest, purring slightly. I tensed at the contact, remembering that Natsu didn't have to do much to hurt me. He was about twice my height and so much stronger. After a couple of moments, Natsu looked up at me, his eyes clouded over and looking at me expectantly. When I didn't figure out what he wanted quickly enough, he let out an annoyed grunt before taking his claws to the collar of my shirt and ripped it off, leaving me half naked. I gasped at the sudden cold of the air hitting my bare skin, my muscles tensing. Natsu gave me another soft purr.