Solitary Princess - Nalu ✔️

Chapter 27

Lucy had pretty much used Natsu and Gildarts' entire sparring match to try and calm her mind. She had no idea why she was so flustered all of the sudden, but it made her feel on edge.

There was no determined winner, but the princess knew if he wanted to, Gildarts could've easily knocked Natsu to the ground. She wasn't an expert fighter and she was far from a well-trained eye, but she didn't need to be either to see he was extremely good.

She waited for them to finish talking before she walked towards her pink-haired teacher. He grinned at her and she hoped he wouldn't give a quiz on what had just happened because she had not really watched the fight at all.

Luckily, he just told her it was time for training and waited for her to walk alongside him before heading in the direction of his house.

They were in comfortable silence, but Lucy's mind was filled with swirling thoughts. She knew she needed to try to focus on training, but as they walked, she couldn't seem to recall the advice Natsu had given her in the last session. Maybe she was tired or maybe she was nervous to be training with someone so skilled.

Either way though, by the time they made it to their usual sparring area, Lucy had successfully calmed down and was ready to start stretching.

Natsu pushed on her back as she sat on the ground and touched her toes, but Lucy was able to ignore the warmth if his hands as she let out deep breaths into the chilly evening air.

After a few more minutes and many (safer) poses, Lucy was all stretched out and ready to get a few more bruises.

"I can tell ya been practicing." Natsu noted gruffly as he let Lucy twist him into a chokehold.

Lucy simply grunted in response and barely dodged an elbow he sent her way. She grinned, "Can't get me with that trick again."

Then Natsu kicked back, and her legs were flying out from under her.

"Ah, but there's more than one way to trick ya." He helped Lucy up, and they reversed positions so Lucy could attempt to mimic Natsu's trick.

She felt his warm arm gently circle her neck without any actual pressure as he pressed her back to him. Lucy fought a blush as she felt around a bit but she was able to hook her toe behind Natsu's ankle and tug forcefully. It wasn't a clean sweep and he could've widened his stance for more stability, but he allowed his footing to shift so she could elbow him point blankin the gut. Lucy found herself thinking more and more like a fighter and was pleased she wasn't totally helpless anymore.

Natsu praised her and offered a pouch of water. Lucy drank greedily and watched Natsu shake out his toned arms. He then showed her how to deliver blows to the sensitive spots of humans.

He demonstrated the first by thrusting the heel of his hand to the chin. The teeth would clack together and the head would rock back and shake the brain, stunning the opponent. Lucy copied his movements, trying it out on the general slowly and without force. He corrected her position a few times and then moved on to the trachea.

Lucy was a bit squeamish at the thought of messing up someone possibly perminately, but most of this kind of fighting was brain work and technique rather than agility and strength so she was better at that than most of the other things they'd learned.

The princess was successfully able to keep her mind focused almost the whole training session. Only when she had closed her bedroom door behind her, did she let her mental guard down.

Virgo fixed her a warm bath, and as Lucy sank into it, her cheeks heated slightly. She blamed it on the warmth of the water, but all she could think was about Natsu. She tried to focus on what she'd learned in training, but the princess kept getting caught up on his grin or the way he smelled like pine and cinnamon. Lucy grimaced at her own thoughts and sank further into the steaming water.

Natsu's pov:

Natsu had finished up the nightly meeting with his friends and was laying in bed thinking.

Gajeel had told him nothing really new was happening on his end around the soldiers, but he had noticed a few that he had a gut feeling about, and was in the process of trailing them. Levy hadn't seen much of anyone but was happy she was around books all day. Natsu also noticed she gushed a bit about how the princess was so funny and sweet. Gray tended to the horses and got smacked by a little girl when he stripped while brushing an unsuspecting horse. Juvia had heard a lot of maid gossip but was in the process of separating fact from fiction while digging a bit deeper. Evergreen tended to a few welders who had gotten burned and Elfman just complained about how bossy the head cook was.

Natsu sighed. He should be glad that little was going on, but he still had a feeling things were worse than they seemed. He just hoped he could get Lucy out of the way in time.