Natsu was officially stumped.
Lucy was a very diligent student. She did whatever exercises he told her to do without fail. In fact, Natsu's usual teaching methods did not work on her at all.
On one rare occasion, the Master had assigned him as a trainer to some of the more promising bunch of his guildmates, namely Gray, Erza, Laxus, and at Natsu's request, Lisanna. His approach was simple.
To most people dependent on magic, their physical power didn't matter as much as their stamina. So, he simply made them work till they physically couldn't do more. More colloquially, he made them 'work till they dropped' Those who lasted an hour did the work for one hour and fainted. Those who lasted five hours worked for five hours. Simple, effective, and cruel. Just how he liked it.
Maybe the opinion that Erza and Gray had of him was well deserved after all.
Lucy was a different case. As stated earlier, she did everything he said, to the point it shocked him. A long, long time later, he told her to stop. She was unconscious before he finished the sentence.
Performing a scan of sorts on her, he could see that her muscles were under severe stress. Logically speaking, she should have been unable to continue several hours ago.
Was she motivated to impress him? How much motivation would a person need to work so much past their body's ability? Natsu seriously had no idea.
After that, he had made an interesting discovery. Probing a little further, he found out that, somehow, she had absorbed some of his fire. It wasn't having any adverse effects on her, as far as he could tell. It was just there, inside her.
Natsu had carried her to her apartment and laid her down on the bed. Right now, he was strolling about in the market district, wondering what sort of weapon would suit Lucy. Nothing too heavy, of course. Not too long to handle, but with some level of range. Something flexible, easy to handle. He was looking at a shop, the wall filled with weapons, when he caught sight of one that was perfect for her.
To the inexperienced eye, it didn't look like much. But to the eyes of someone who had come across nearly all kinds of weapons, he knew a good whip if he saw one.
It was made out of a kind of condensed spandex, making it sting like rubber would. It also meant that it could extend just around a couple of centimeters if swung hard enough, giving it more bite. The rubbery but ropey handle made it much easier to grip. And, was that silver running along the top?
In other words, it was badass, and would complement Lucy perfectly.
Lucy was really, really tired. Why did I want to impress him again? She couldn't move any of her muscles without pain shooting through her body. Am I crazy?
Lucy could feel that she was in her bed, even though she couldn't confirm it. Her neck was too stiff and sore to move.
It reminded her of her home a bit. Not in a good way, though. More like, the injuries and bruises she got from her father's whippings.
Hush, Lucy. Don't think about things like that. You are a Fairy Tail Mage now. Act like it.
With great effort, she managed to put one leg on the ground. Then another. She got up slowly and hobbled over to the fridge. She was hungry. The first thing she saw was a squirrel that had been unceremoniously shoved inside.
Her eye twitched.
It must have been Natsu. She thought about teaching him what other people did or did not do, but dismissed it. Such an endeavor would take years.
Speaking of which, where was Natsu?
Natsu was, at the time, conversing with the shopkeeper of that weapons shop.
"Why isn't it for sale?"
The shopkeeper was visibly trembling in fear. "Y-y-you s-s-see, sir, i-it w-w-was o-ordered specially b-by a Mr. J-Jude H-H-Heartfilia!"
Natsu badly wanted to scare the shopkeeper into selling it, but he knew that it wasn't the correct move. He made his way back to Lucy's place, with no weapon in his hands.
Scaling the wall with his bare hands, he dropped in through the window to see that Lucy was already up, and apparently was skinning the squirrel he had brought her. Natsu didn't understand why she would want to spoil such a nice squirrel, but then, humans were a strange bunch. He knew enough to know that it was just a quirk that humans had.
The bookshelf beside Lucy caught Natsu's eye. Said eye proceeded to bug out of his head. "I-is that a m-mint condition 1999 43rd issue of the Weekly Shonen Jump?!"
Lucy blushed a bit. "Yeah. I'm a collector."
"Lucy! Do you not realize what it is? It's the issue where Naruto was released!"
Natsu was more invested in manga than any other person, with good reason. He had been introduced to this specific slice of life by Porlyusica, when she was busy, and he was bothering her. He had become addicted really fast.
He asked her questions about her collection, and she answered them as well as she could while coating the squirrel with spices like salt and oregano, along with a bit of tartar sauce.
"Hey, who do you think I'm like? I mean if I were a Naruto character? I think I'd be someone powerful, like Hashirama or something!"
Lucy giggled.
"What?"
"I think you'd be Sakura."
"What?! Why?"
Lucy didn't say anything, she just looked intently at his hair.
Realization dawned on Natsu's face. "My hair is salmon!"
"It looks pink to me."
Memories of someone else came to mind.
"My hair is salmon!"
"Ne, ne, Natsu", chirped a little girl with white hair. "It sure looks pink to me."
Natsu hated memories.
They continued bantering while she cooked the squirrel. Once it was finished, she brought it to the table along with two smaller plates.
Looking at the... thing, that she had brought to the table, which in no way resembled the animal he had originally caught, Natsu felt queasy. Yet, he accepted a bite.
The squirrel got revenge on Natsu for its murder, by reminding him exactly why he hated cooked foods. They had no nutrients at all. Would it hurt people to leave a single drop of blood inside?
Basically, the squirrel was horrible.
"So? How is it?" asked Lucy expectantly.
"It's great. I love it." He couldn't really say it was horrible, could he? He didn't really want to, either.
This relieved Lucy more than she would admit. The last time she had made food for someone was when she'd made a rice ball for her father. It had not gone well.
Oh well, they were past memories. She had a guild now. A guild full of members who treated her like family (and some who reported her). It was home.
That night, while trying to sleep, Lucy felt truly content.
Waking up the next morning, Lucy felt her head uncomfortably pushed up by her pillow. She dragged it out from beneath her head. Its eyes blinked sleepily. Wait, eyes?
Lucy pushed herself back as she let go of the 'pillow', which proceeded to sprout wings and sit down on a head full of pink hair.
"Happy?!"
"It's me! You have a nice home, Lucy!"
Lucy frowned. "And you just... let yourself in?"
The blue cat's eyes widened comically as they began watering. "I'm sorry, Miss Lucy! I couldn't find Natsu for days, and so I followed his scent!"
Tears threatened to fall from his eyes. Lucy immediately reassured him. "It's okay, it's okay! Come here, cat."
Happy immediately jumped into her arms and closed his eyes. Lucy stroked his fur for a while until Natsu woke up.
Natsu felt the world come back to him. He was instantly alert and sat up on Lucy's bed.
At that point, Lucy was tired and a bit annoyed. Natsu didn't look the least bit tired!
"Must you always look so alert? And so, so gorgeous! Why don't you ever have bed hair?" she whined.
Natsu thankfully took it as the ramblings of a madwoman.