Assassin

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN SHE HIRED BOTH OF US TO KILL THE SAME TARGET?!" AU - Nalu one shot

Prompt from aphjapanislife on Tumblr.

He entered the dark room, uneasy about his surroundings. He had never heard of this She- Devil before.

Natsu had been hired by many intimidating people, but none had ever had such a reputation before.

He heard the clicking of nails on a desk, but all he could see in the dim candle light was a pale, silky hand with sharp nails that were painted a deep, bloody red.

Her chair was turned away from him, hiding her appearance. He sucked in a deep breath and stepped forward.

The floors creaked ominously below him, causing her chair to swivel around at an alarming speed.

"You're the assassin, right? Not a very good one..." She teased with a smile as she pointed to the weak floor board he was standing on.

He rolled his eyes and huffed at her insult. He was a great assassin. Sure he got carried away sometimes, but he always got the job done.

"I'm just teasing. I'm Mirajane! I would take out the target myself, but... I have my hands full. Think you can handle it?"

She smiled like she was asking him to run to the store, not kill a person. What kind of woman was she?

"Take them out yourself?" He asked curiously. If she has no problem "taking them out", he could only imagine why her hands were full...

"Oh, of course! I'm no assassin, but I can take out the trash when necessary." She was still smiling at him like this was entirely normal.

For him, killing was just a way to pay the bills, but it was a little shocking when he met others who killed. Especially if they killed for nothing.

Natsu wouldn't kill unless he was being paid a hefty amount and the person really deserved it.

"Ohhhkayyyy... I'm gonna need to know what they did." He crossed his arms and stood firm, waiting for her answer.

Her smile fell and her expression became dark.

"He took my baby sister's leg."

"I would love to rip off his myself as payback, but my sister needs me to stay with her while she adjusts to life without the leg that bastard took."

"I want him gone. Wiped off the face of the Earth. Capiche?"

She was standing, hunched over the desk with her hands firmly planted on the surface.

Her sapphire eyes lost their kindness and took on a whole new shape, like they belonged to someone else.

He nodded stiffly and began to sweat under her heated glare.

"Yep. Got it. Can do. I'll need the payment up front."

He shrunk back subconsciously as she reached into the desk and pulled out a sack that jingled and clinked.

She tossed it over to him. He fumbled, but caught it. Her smile returned and she waved.

"Don't let me down! Wouldn't want to have to leave my baby sister to handle some trash... " She sang after him.

Her face and voice were of the angels, but those words were certainly of demons.

He now completely understood her reputation.

She- Devil, indeed.

He went to the specified location and awaited high in the rafters for his target to come into view.

He planned to sit and wait, watching him until the event ended and all were heading home.

He had been told that he was the type to be the last to leave, which made this hit all too easy.

He had just started to settle as he spotted his target when he saw something moving in the shadows of the rafters to his far left.

Reluctantly, he pulled his eyes from the target to make sure his eyes were not playing tricks on him. They certainly were not.

20 feet away from him to the left was a rather attractive, busty blonde donning a black catsuit, with her long, flowing tresses pulled back into a tight ponytail by a black ribbon.

She didn't appear to notice him at all. She was focusing in on someone below.

Natsu followed her line of sight and became confused when he realized that she was targeting his target.

How many people did this guy piss off?

He called to her.

"Psssst. Hey. This is my target, back off!" He whisper shouted.

She snapped her head up, shocked, but narrowed her eyes in annoyance as soon as she saw him.

"No. This is my target. I have already been paid to wipe him out and I don't break promises, so if you will excuse me..."

She raised up this little flute looking device towards her mouth. Was she using poison darts? What the hell kind of assassin is she?

"I was already paid, too. And I don't like breaking promises either!" He challenged. She pulled the small tube from her lips and frowned.

"What do you want to do about it?" She asked dully, clearly not amused by their strange predicament.

"We could come up with a plan to take him out together?" He offered. She shook her head and laughed as she held up her little tubular device.

"That is a bit much. Just let me handle it, I won't tell. With this baby, he will be out in seconds. Nobody will even know we were here."

She smirked smugly at him, shaking her tiny death device tauntingly.

"What does it do?" He asked out of raw curiosity.

No way was he giving her this kill, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't intrigued to know more about her methods.

"Oh this? This is my shooting star. It shoots out a microscopic star shaped blade that is laced with enough poison to kill an elephant."

"Probably overkill, but you can never be too careful. The blade dissolves from the body heat within 3 minutes and the poison is undetectable."

"It's a poison that my best friend created. I am the only one with access to it. It's pretty cool." She was really proud of that thing.

Natsu had to admit, letting her take the kill would be easy. They could be done right now... But, there was no way in hell that was happening.

"Yeah... That's cool, I guess, but I can't let you just do it all by yourself. We were both paid to take this guy out. We gotta be a team. At least for right now, right?"

he smiled a big, toothy grin at her. She didn't really notice until now, but he was really cute.

Her heart pounded loudly in her chest as she took in a sharp breath and nodded quickly, matching his smile.

"Right!" She put away her shooting star and turned to face him.

"So, what's the plan, magic man?" She looked to him expectantly. Right... A plan.

He wracked his brain for a plan, but was coming up with zip.

"I got nothin'." He chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head.

She hummed quietly to herself, deep in thought.

"Oh! I got it. We wait until he is alone. I was told he is a loner type so he will probably be the last to go."

"When he is finally alone, I will jump down and distract him from the front while you take him out from behind. Deal?"

She smiled and held out her hand to him. He took it and they shook.

"Deal."

They waited for hours, but finally all the guests from the party had left and he was preparing to leave.

She swung down from the rafters and blew a kiss to the guy, waving her leather gloved hand to him seductively.

He looked angry and certainly wasn't buying her flirtation.

Although, why would he? She LOOKED like an assassin and just casually jumped down from the rafters.

Totally not obvious at all.

Nope, not a bit.

Natsu sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I guess up close and personal is not this chick's strong suit."

He quickly raced to the opposite end of the rafters and swung down, landing directly behind the target, who now had her in a head lock.

There were different types of assassins.

There were the kind, like him, who prefer up close, physical approaches and then there were types like her, who instead lurked in the shadows and operated like ghosts.

He should have known by her weapon choice that she was a ghost assassin.

What was he thinking letting her be the decoy? He grabbed the guy in his own head lock and twisted.

Done.

As the man hit the floor, Lucy gasped for air and turned to face Natsu.

"Thanks... I am so sorry. You must think I am a horrible assassin." She tried to laugh, but mostly choked on air. He shook his head.

"Not at all. I should have known you were a ghost. Impressive." He held out a hand to her. She accepted it and shook.

"I'm Lucy." She rubbed her neck with her free hand as she smiled at him with teary eyes and reddened cheeks.

"Natsu." He grinned and patted her back.

"Why don't we go home. You look like you could use a nap." She frowned at him.

"I'm fine." She growled. She hated feeling like a victim. She could take care of herself.

Was he feeling pity for her?

He put his hands up defensively and shook his head with a smile.

"Hey, I need a nap, too. Chill." He parted from her and began walking down the road to his car.

She watched as he walked away and pursed her lips. She kinda wanted to get his number.

It's hard to find a guy you like enough to date in the real world with this kind of profession, so if you find one you like in your profession,

she felt she should absolutely jump on the opportunity, but alas, he was too far for her to catch up.

A small, black mini cooper pulled up beside her and the window rolled down.

"Watcha lookin' at, Lu?" Her best friend, the one that created her shooting star, Levy, had come to give her a lift.

Lucy shook her head and sighed as she stepped into the tiny vehicle.

"Nothing." Lucy kept watching the direction that pink haired assassin had run off. Levy followed her gaze, but saw nothing.

They had to drive to the requester's location to confirm the kill and Levy wasn't about to be late for anything, ever.

"If you say so..." The small blunette shifted into gear and began speeding off to their destination.

They reached their goal after about an hour and parked beside a bright red 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS Automatic.

The licence plate read, "IGNEEL".

Lucy shook her head and laughed. She thought for sure this car belonged to a fuck boy.

Although... She couldn't imagine Mira ever cheating on Laxus and this car absolutely was NOT his style.

She shrugged and told Levy she would be back in a minute. She entered the large, tastefully decorated house and carefully ascended the stairs.

When she reached Mirajane's office, she gave 3 light knocks. The door was opened by a large man with tan skin and white hair.

Mira's brother, Elfman.

"Hello, Elfman! How's Ever doing?" Lucy asked cheerfully.

She had known The Strauss siblings for a very long time and was constantly hired for her services.

The Strauss' were a Mob family and sometimes needed to hire outside help to tie up loose ends.

Elfman smiled and stepped aside so that she could enter.

"We can talk man to man later. You're not going to like this." He laughed as he exited the room and closed the door behind him.

Lucy didn't understand what he meant until she looked at the guy sitting in front of Mirajane's desk.

It was him.

"NATSU?! What are you doing here?!" She screeched.

He looked just as puzzled as she was.

"HEY! Don't get mad at me! I'm just doing my job! Why are YOU here?" He shouted back.

Mira was smiling from ear to ear. They both looked to her for an explanation.

She clasped her hands together and her once sweet smile turned sadistic.

"I figured I would kill two birds with one stone. Have that no good scumbag taken out and hook up my favorite little assassin with another adorable assassin!"

"So, how was your date? No blood stains, I hope?" She looked between them positively glowing.

Lucy and Natsu both looked at her dubiously.

"I DON'T NEED TO BE HOOKED UP, MIRA!" She roared angrily.

Natsu stared at both of them. He could not believe the situation he was in.

He was hired to take out a guy just so that he could hook up with this chick's assassin friend?

What the hell kind of place is this. This whole place is loony.

"Well... I'm gonna go..." He tried to slink out of the room, but much to his surprise and her own, Lucy stopped him.

She shot Mira an angry glare as she held her place between him and the door.

"It's not like I like you or anything, but maybe we could go out to coffee or something... You know... To talk about work."

Mira smiled knowingly at her and winked. Lucy felt a blush creep onto her cheeks.

She tried to remain calm as she waited for his response.

He stared at her in confusion for a moment, but then smiled.

"Sure thing, Loopy!" He pulled a card from his pocket and set it in her hand before pushing past her to leave.

"IT'S LUCY!" She shouted after him furiously.

He smiled and waved behind him casually.

"I know."

She could hear the smile on his face through his words. She pouted and looked down to the card.

It wasn't a card at all. It was a folded piece of paper. When she opened it, she smiled.

I'm not sure if I will run into you again, but if I do, let's go out sometime. -Natsu

His number was written below his message.

So, he had the same thought as her.

She said her goodbyes to Mira and went out to the car.

"HE WAS HOT, LU!" Levy squealed.

Lucy giggled at her outburst.

Levy wasn't normally one to gush over guys.

It took Lucy nearly a year to get Levy to admit that she had a thing for Black Steel, their resident physical attack assassin.

Lucy couldn't blame Mira.

Every now and then she also enjoyed playing match maker.

"He was alright." Lucy smiled and sat back in her seat.

"NO! You got his number, didn't you!?" Levy smacked her arm and giggled.

Lucy nodded with her eyes squeezed shut, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah."

Levy squirmed in her seat excitedly but then stopped.

Her expression became thoughtful as she looked to the house.

"Why was he here?"

Lucy sighed and looked out the window.

"It's a long story..."