Hey guys archergirl14 here writing her first Fairy Tail fanfiction, and of course it's a NaLu fic which is personally my favorite Fairy Tail semi-canon pairing other than GaLe, Gruvia, and Jerza. There will be some of the other pairings throughout this fic but the main focus is on Natsu and Lucy. On and I don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. Well on with the story…

Fragmented Soul - Chapter I

Lucy could feel the sun streaming in through her window almost as if it were left open. At that thought she opened one eye to glance through the sunlight and right out through her open window, which is NOT how she left it last night.

Almost as if it were on queue a loud snore disturbed the peace in her room. Lucy sighed as she sat up in her comfy bed to look over to a pink tuff of hair peeking out from under her blankets, along with a long furry tail which she knew belonged to two someone's; namely Natsu Dragneel and Happy, two of her guild team partners.

On that note she lifted her foot up a bit and booted Natsu's flaming ass and Happy's furry butt out of her bed. A loud "oomph" noise sounded as Natsu's body met carpeted floor, oh how she wished it could have been hard wood so it would've hurt more. "Geez you two never learn." Lucy mumbled as she looked over the edge of her bed to the jumbled heap that was Natsu and Happy.

Natsu sat up on the floor rubbing sleep from his eyes, with a half-awake Happy perched on his head. "What did you do that for Luce?" He grumbled with a pout on his face, his forest green eyes finally making contact with her chocolate brown ones.

"I wouldn't have done it if I didn't wake up with you two in my bed." Lucy huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest, making her breasts look impossibly larger than they actually were. She shook her head as she climbed out of her bed, while she was stretching to get the kinks out of her back Natsu made a strange comment.

"Hey Luce, you smell different today." His eyebrows were furrowed as he sniffed the air. He unconsciously licked his lips when the thought occurred to him that this new scent smelled tasty. Natsu moved closer in her direction before her foot met his face, and he was sent rolling across the floor, which in turn caused Happy to float in mid-air to avoid Natsu's collision with the wall.

"Keep your nose away from me!" Lucy had blushed almost five shades of red when she realized her period had decided to stay one day longer than usual. Thanks to Natsu's comment she figured it out before she ruined her favorite pair of night shorts with blood… again. She rushed to the dresser as Natsu tried to right himself, it was great for her that she was fast so by the time he did she was already locked inside her bathroom.

"Geez Luce, you're weirder than I thought." Natsu grumbled as he stood up and stretched himself, Happy didn't agree with waking up because he just perched himself back atop Natsu's head and closed his eyes curling his tail around his small furry body.

"You're the weird one!" Lucy yelled through the door of her bathroom as she fixed her problem blushing beet red the whole time since Natsu was on the other side of the door. He says I'm weird yet he eats and breathes fire, well that's Natsu for you. She sighed as she washed her hands in the sink, before fixing her top and skirt while adjusting her belt holding her celestial spirit keys and whip.

When Lucy reemerged into her bedroom she noticed Natsu giving her that strange look again before his nose twitched slightly and he started toward her again, at this her eyes widened before she raced out of her apartment almost as if the flames of hell were at her heels, pretty ironic since that's exactly how it felt like trying to outrun the Fire Dragon Slayer.

==Natsu==

"Lucy!" Natsu yelled after her as he struggled to push himself out of her bedroom window, when he did manage to push himself out he ended up using too much strength and falling into the river. At this point Happy was forced to wake up since he was now floating in ice cold water, he managed to get out of it using his wings before looking down to see a drenched Natsu with a frown plastered on his face.

"What's wrong Natsu?" Happy glided down to rest on the cement walk in front of his "Father" so to speak tilting his head slightly in confusion. Natsu sighed before climbing out of the river and quickly set himself on fire just enough to dry out his cloths before turning to his little Exceed buddy.

"Lucy smells different, and it bothers me slightly. She's never smelled that-"good to me before… He finished off his sentence in his mind. He looked down at his friend before shaking off that thought. "Never mind Happy." He looked in the direction Lucy ran and realized she was heading for the guild which made finding her easy enough. "Come on pal, Lucy went to the guild maybe she wants to take a job." A big goofy grin replaced his previous frown which caused Happy to nod and move to float in the air beside Natsu as they approached Fairy Tail.

== Lucy ==

Lucy rushed through the guild doors before looking around for Levy, hoping that she'd be able to avoid talking to Natsu if she was with her best friend. Once she zeroed in on the girl she practically tackled her, crying slightly about being chased by a pink haired idiot and his lazy cat. Levy just sat there and patted her head slightly while looking over at her boyfriend, Gajeel Redfox, having an idea of what was going on.

Gajeel stood up from his seat planning to intercept Natsu before he could enter the guild, he was sure that the flame idiot didn't even know what was happening to his body, and that unsettled him some. It would be a problem if his hunch was correct, but it did puzzle him that Natsu didn't know what was happening on his own.

As Gajeel exited the guild doors Levy turned back to Lucy, all the while gently pulling her blonde friend from clinging to her chest to look her in the eyes. "Lucy tell me what's going on with you and Natsu, it's kind of strange that you're terrified of him right now." Levy tried to reason with her friend as she wiped away her unexpected tears.

==Natsu==

"Oi Salamander, time you and me have a little talk. Dragon Slayer to Dragon Slayer, meaning Happy can go hang around Shrimp and Bunny Girl for this little talk." Gajeel growled as he grabbed Natsu by the back of his collar and dragged him down the streets of Magnolia. Natsu complained saying he needed to see Lucy, before he realized what he was saying a growl abruptly escaped Natsu's mouth as he took a firm grip on Gajeel's wrist that was holding the back of his collar and dug his nails into said guys' skin, or tried to anyways.

Gajeel shook his head and chuckled as Natsu tried to hurt him, but as soon as he'd grabbed him he'd covered his arm in metal scales. "Struggle all you want Salamander we're having this talk whether you want to or not, so you might as well just give up and listen to what I have to say." Natsu stopped his struggle as his eyes widened at his own actions, he'd blacked out for a few seconds just now.

Gajeel managed to drag Natsu to the outskirts of Magnolia before he finally let go of Natsu's jacket collar. Natsu crossed his arms with a frown as he sat down on the grass facing Gajeel, who looked smug that he didn't struggle the rest of the way here after he realized he'd tried to hurt him in order to get to Lucy.

"Now that you've calmed down some," Gajeel sat on a fallen log facing Natsu with his hands on both his knees, "I need to know when your birthday was." Natsu furrowed his brow in confusion at Gajeel's question about his birthday. "I'm not sure." Natsu replied with another confused look directed at the Iron Dragon Slayer.

Gajeel smacked his hand over his face at Natsu's answer, how could this idiot not know when his birthday was. Gajeel took in a deep breath glaring down at the younger Dragon Slayer before he finally let it out in a huff. "Fine let me ask you something easier." Gajeel stared him directly in the eye, "When did Bunny Girl's scent change?"

Natsu blinked a few times before he hunched over laughing at Gajeel's question, Lucy's scent hadn't changed so what was he talking about… He immediately stopped all laughter to look up at Gajeel who quirked an eyebrow at him. "It happened this morning." He replied before biting his lower lip in worry about what was happening to him or to Lucy.

Gajeel stood to his feet abruptly and growled, "You damned idiot! Yesterday was your damn birthday!" Natsu fell on his back at Gajeel's outburst about his birthday, wait did he say yesterday…but what did his birthday have to do with anything.

Natsu jumped to his feet and got in Gajeel's face, "What does my birthday have to do with Lucy's scent changing? That doesn't make any sense!" At the end of his angry outburst he was haggardly breathing making it a bit hard for him to take in air without his chest hurting slightly.

Gajeel growled at Natsu for his closeness and stepped back from the agitated Fire Dragon Slayer, he took a deep breath to calm his rage like Levy told him to when things heated up. Once he calmed down he looked Natsu in the eyes, his face serious. "You're birthday matters because it means your inner dragon is coming of age for a mate, and with your ignorance you could really hurt Lucy… maybe even kill her without meaning to."

Natsu stiffened his eyes open wide and his face showing a horrified expression at the mere idea of killing Lucy, that same thought made pain burn into his heart. Even though he was a Dragon Slayer he wasn't immune to this kind of burning pain, the kind that made his entire being shake in fear for a murder he could commit against someone he loved.

==Lucy==

"I don't know what's wrong with him but I'm scared Levy, something about him doesn't feel right. Wait, that's not the right word… he feels different for some reason." Lucy's voice shook as she continued to talk to Levy about what happened that very morning. "And then he told me I smelled different, you're dating Gajeel right, is that normal for a Dragon Slayer to say?" She looked to Levy for answers to things she really wanted, no, needed to know about Natsu's behavior.

Levy understood Lucy's predicament because about two years ago it was Gajeel going through the same thing, but with her as the target. "Uh Lucy I need to talk to you about something but you have to promise not to tell anyone else, can you do that for me?" Levy needed her answer fast so they could move quickly, she knew what was coming and it wouldn't be good for Lucy in the beginning.

Lucy was a bit confused but she nodded her head yes for she didn't trust her voice at the moment. She sat and waited for Levy to speak but what happened instead made her a bit curious about the words that Levy thought she needed to hear. Lucy was dragged out of the guild and pulled toward her own home, maybe Levy didn't want others to hear so she was taking her to a place that others that knew them wouldn't overhear their conversation.

Once Levy and Lucy were safely locked within Lucy's own house Levy began her tale. "Lucy you have a right to be scared of Natsu right now, at the moment he has the ability to seriously harm you without intending to. All male Dragon Slayers go through what's known as Mating Heat for about one month after their twenty-first birthday, it begins the day after and almost always their mate is human as far as I can understand."

Levy pulled a small book out of her pack that Lucy didn't realize she had with her until now. Lucy looked at it and noticed it was rather old and the pages were yellow with age, while some pages were almost on the verge of falling out of the binding to the book. The cover showed an infinity symbol and on either side of it were a Dragon and what looked like a human from what Lucy could see.

"This is a book I managed to find in the oldest section of the guild library. Even the master didn't know it existed until now. This book explains the connection between a male Dragon Slayer and their human mate, the reason I have it is because Gajeel has already experienced what Natsu is starting to go through. I'm… well I'm… Gajeel's mate." Levy blushed when Lucy started at her.

"Anyway I've already started to rewrite everything within this book that way this knowledge won't disappear forever once this book in unable to be read anymore. Here this one is a completed copy of the one's I've written. I had Reedus copy the cover to the new version. I also translated everything since the original is written in a different language than what we speak now." Levy handed Lucy a brand new book with gold binding, and a rather colorful cover featuring the same pictures of the original.

Lucy's hands shook slightly as she took the book from Levy. "So what you're saying is that you think I'm Natsu's mate, but that can't be… he has Lisanna for that why is it me?" Truthfully Lucy was happy about her being the one for him but she'd always thought he would end up with Lisanna in the end so she never revealed her feeling toward the idiot himself.

"No thinking Lucy, you are Natsu's mate. Your scent changed to him and that's the first sign of Mating Heat, at the moment Gajeel is trying to explain what I'm telling you to Natsu. The first few stages are tough for us humans, so you must be careful to follow what's in the book as not to anger him unintentionally. When the heat is over there will be a tattoo like mark along your neck, this tells all other male Dragon Slayers that you are the mate of a Dragon Slayer. Here see this…" Levy turned slightly and on her neck was a tattoo like mark of a dragon blackish-gray in color.

Lucy always thought she'd gotten it for Gajeel, she just never knew it was from Gajeel. Lucy's mind was in overload from all the information that Levy was piling into her mind. "Are you saying there's a chance that he could hurt me without meaning to, and that this is only the beginning of the Mating Heat." She looked down at the book a bit scared of what she might find within the bound book. Lucy gulped before looking back up at Levy; if her friend was okay then she should be too. "Thank you Levy, I'll be sure to read it."

==Natsu==

"Contrary to what others believe Dragon Slayers aren't at full power by themselves, we require something more to be stable and more powerful. Natsu, Levy and I have found out that Dragon Slayers are recklessly destructive because we have nothing to balance out our true nature as Dragon Slayers or should I say Dragons. A mate to us is the other half of our souls that allows us a calm that wouldn't exist without them, after a mate is fully claimed she is the reason why we become so powerful our need to protect her requires our powers to grow to full capacity." Gajeel explained with words Natsu didn't know the guy knew, he must have acted like a thug just for the fun of it.

Natsu finally found the will to speak after Gajeel's words. "But why would I hurt Lucy unintentionally, how could I if she's supposed to be my mate? Why wouldn't have Igneel told me about this?!" Natsu clenched his fists as he stared at the ground, why Igneel this is something you should have told me before you left me, I don't want to hurt her… Natsu felt in his heart that Lucy was his mate no doubt about that, the only thing he couldn't wrap his head around was the possibility of hurting her part.

Gajeel took pity on the younger Dragon Slayer for he was about to drop something he knew the guy wouldn't like in his lap. "For the first week of Mating Heat, which lasts about a month total, your inner dragon will take over and the man will only be able to watch what happens and sometimes that isn't pretty. I'm hoping that Levy is explaining this to Lucy right now so she knows what not to do to anger your dragon. For now you need to get back to her or else you'll go on a rampage and destroy the city."

AN: So I made the first chapter a bit longer than before so people should be happy with it, anyway I'm working on the second one right now. Please review I enjoy hearing from people who like my stories, it makes me really happy. Until next time… xoxo.